The Beginning of a Prophecy
by Black-lightningrunes-13
Summary: For as long as James Potter could remember he had been in love with Lily Evans. While Lily never thought she would see the day when James could act civil. However that day comes around. Starting from their 6th year, the changes begin to take place, but they are faced with struggles ultimately leading to a prophecy.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi there! **

**So this is my first ever fanfic :) I've read so many and I thought hey why not give it a go. I hope you like it! :)**

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Hogwarts or the characters created by JK Rowling who has inspired so many of us. I do however own the story line and some of the characters that are mentioned.**_

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_Chapter 1:_

For as long as James Potter could remember he had been in love with one Lily Evans. Pretty much since that first meeting on the Hogwarts Express in his first year at Hogwarts he knew that Lily was the one for him. Unfortunately this was when he also met Severus; or Snivellus, as James liked to call him; Snape. The idiot of a thing who was friends with Lily. How he had ever come to be friends with someone as gentle and kind as Lily was simply beyond James.

Lily Evans was simply furious. It had been nearly a year since her ex-best friend Sev was outside the Gryffindor common room begging for her forgiveness. Nearly a year since they had even spoken to one another. Yet apparently this time frame didn't matter, and it was simply okay to start talking and even try to apologize after all this time!

"Aurgh! How dare he! Why couldn't he just leave me alone?" Lily screamed as she walked into her dorm room, slamming the door behind her.

"Oh god, what did Potter do now to get you this mad?" Lily's best friend Alice Prewitt asked, exasperated as she turned over on her bed to face Lily.

"Surprisingly not Potter this time."

"Wait, who then?"

"Sev!" Lily screamed as she threw her heavy bag onto her bed.

"Wait.. What? Snape.. Hasn't it been like a year since you spoke to that creep?" Alice asked her friend in a disbelieving tone.

"Seriously Alice, I know you never liked him and I know I haven't spoken to him since last year, but do you seriously have to call him that?"

Alice went to interrupt but Lily continued, "And yes it has been a year. You know it's been that long. Can we not think about that?"

"Yeah I know" her friend replied, "But what did he do to you to make you so mad? Especially since it's been so long since you guys have spoken."

Lily took a deep breath. She knew she was probably about to lose it and was glad it was only Alice with her right now. "I was sitting in the library by myself, doing nothing to anyone and studying. As I usually do! But the entire time I felt odd, like I was being watched. I looked up and checked behind me and guess who it was from across the room?"

"My guess not Potter for once," interrupted Alice.

"No! It was SEV! When he noticed I was looking he looked away but decided to look back! I started glaring and instead of him looking away, he gets up! And actually starts walking towards me!"

Alice could tell that as Lily told her all this, she was getting worked up again so she moved to sit next to her best friend on the bed.

"So of course I didn't want him anywhere near me. I packed up as quickly as I could but I wasn't fast enough! He spoke to me, said hi in a soft voice. But I couldn't… no, wouldn't respond to him! I just grabbed my stuff and walked away but no, he HAD to follow me! Obviously it's okay to finally start talking to me when his stupid, evil, deatheater wannabe friends are not around! How could he think I would even want to talk to him?! It's been that long!" As Lily spoke her eyes had begun to tear up. Using her sleeve she quickly wiped her eyes. Alice, noticing this, put her arm around Lily's shoulders and pulled her in for a hug.

"What did he want then? What else did he say?" Alice asked gently, knowing it was better to let Lily get it all out instead of bottling it up.

"He kept trying to apologise for what he said on 'that' day. It was pretty much the exact same as when he was outside the portrait hole that night. He tried to blame Potter for working him up, and… look, I may not like Potter but I'm not letting Sev blame him for calling me a m-m-mudblood," Lily said, stumbling out the final word as a tear rolled down her face. "But the thing was, he didn't just mention that day, he had to bring up our friendship before Hogwarts, before Slytherin and Gryffindor. The fact that we were best friends, how he was the one who told me I was a witch, and told me everything! He tried to guilt trip me! Like it was my fault we haven't spoken for so long! "

By this time, tears were easily rolling down Lily's face. It was hard for her to remember her friendship like that with Sev. He had been there for her right at the beginning, spent day after day with her telling her all about magic and Hogwarts. She knew how things weren't great for him at home and he knew about her sister who stopped looking at her in the same way after discovering she was a witch.

Alice couldn't stand to see her best friend cry. It hurt her too much see her like this. She looked for something to say and thought of it hoping Lily wouldn't get too offended, "Oh Lily I'm so so sorry! Look, I know I never understood your friendship with him but I know you two were really close. But you grew apart. Sometimes that happens and we have absolutely no control over it whatsoever. If the friendship had been meant to last it would have. You both changed Lils. There is no point in beating yourself up over it. Remember those good times like they were, don't try and forget them or think about the what-ifs. And just remember you have me now and I'll always be here for you."

Lily, who had been looking down this entire time looked up at Alice and gave her a weak smile.

"Thanks Al, but I'm not done yet... After he reminded me about how things used to be he went on to tell me how much he cares for me, how much he LOVES me! Then he moved in to kiss me! That's when I got mad. I pushed him away and started yelling.. I don't even remember what I said to him! But after I just walked away unable to face him!"

While Lily said all this, tears continued to glide down her cheeks. She couldn't help but cry. She was one of those girls who would tear up over the smallest of things because she just couldn't help it.

"Whoa. Back up a minute! Snape did what?! Ew that is so gross! I mean sorry Lils..." Alice exclaimed

"No it's okay, it is. I'm just ... Eurgh I can't believe he tried it"

From just talking about it, Lily had felt she had calmed down enough. But she already knew her face would probably be the same red as her hair and her eyes would be blood shot. Getting up slowly, she moved to the bathroom to go and wash her face. Unfortunately it was dinnertime and she was going to have to head down to the great hall, plus she was too starving to actually skip dinner.

James sat at the Gryffindor table with his three best friends. Sirius 'Padfoot' Black and Remus 'Moony' Lupin were what they would call 'discussing'… but what was actually arguing, about Sirius' latest 'catch' of the girls at school who were after him. Next to James sat Peter 'Wormtail' Pettigrew who was too busy stuffing his face with food to join in. As for himself, James sat lost in his thoughts slowly picking at his food. All of a sudden, someone grabbed him from behind. Knowing straight away who it was, he pinned the arms together holding the small hands in one of his own. Using his other hand he tickled his attacker. " AHH JAMES! LET ME GO!" squealed Marlene McKinnon. Marlene and James had been friends for as long James could remember. Their parents had been friends since before they were born so when Marlene and James were born they were immediately thrown together to keep each other company. Marlene was also a part of Alice and Lily's trio. She had actually been the one who brought Lily and Alice out of their shells, and as true best friends, they wouldn't want it any other way.

James eventually stopped tickling Marlene, and she sat down beside him. "So, what's up? When I just walked up to you, you seemed completely out if it" stated Marlene to her best guy friend.

"Eh not a lot," James replied, "I was kind of just lost in my thoughts."

"Ha, stuck thinking about Lily again?"

"No, of course not!" James said unconvincingly.

"Yeah of course not… Oh crap, excuse me," Marlene said noticing something and getting up to move down the table.

When James looked up to see what Marlene had noticed, he saw a certain red-headed girl walking into the great hall with one of her best friends, the two going to where Marlene had moved to. Straight away James knew something wasn't right, and it wasn't because of her puffy eyes. It was her smile. Lily's smile; the one that made James' stomach do little flips and was usually always there; was gone off Lily's face.

From a distance James watched as the three girls leaned in closely, Alice telling Marlene whatever had happened that was making Lily so upset.

"Oi! Prongs! Stop staring at Evans!"

James looked away noticing that Sirius was waving his hand in front of James' face. Bringing James back to his friends, he noticed that Remus and Sirius had stopped their discussion and even Peter had look up from his food.

"Leave me alone! Besides look at her. Something happened."

"Leave it be prongs, Marlene will take care of her," Remus told James.

"Yeah plus I'm pretty sure she'd want you to leave well enough alone" Sirius continued.

"Yeah come on, don't remind me. She'll never give me a chance," as James said this they all looked towards the trio along with many people as they all heard Marlene scream out.

"WAIT WHAT?! HE TRIED TO WHAT?" Alice and Lily were trying to pull Marlene back into her seat. They eventually succeeded, but even from a distance James could tell Marlene was furious. Looking at her, James saw her glaring at the Slytherin table, in particular a greasy haired young guy.

"Snivellus" James mumbled under his breath.

After eventually getting Marlene to calm, or at least quiet down, Lily sat there in silence thinking about that day almost a year ago.

It had been after the Defence Against the Dark Arts O.W.L exam and everybody had escaped the great hall to the sunshine after all their hard work. Sitting by the lake's edge with Alice and Marlene, Lily was comparing their answers on some of the questions;"So what did you guys say for the werewolf question?"

"Ahh come on Lils! Just forget about it! It's done now!" Marlene complained. Lily was about to respond when she heard a disturbance a little bit away.

Looking in the direction of the noise she'd heard, she saw Potter and his friends terrorising Sev. 'Of course it's them,' Lily thought, 'they just can't leave people alone.' As both a prefect, and friend to Sev, she moved closer to the group and called out "Leave him ALONE!"

James, hearing it was her, turned and ran his hand through his hair; addressing her, he said, "Alright, Evans?" in a tone that was suddenly pleasant, deeper and more mature.

"Leave him alone, what's he done to you?" Lily said, knowing she was looking at him with a clear dislike. When James replied that it was the mere fact Sev existed, she got annoyed calling him 'an arrogant bullying toerag'

But it was the next thing James said that annoyed Lily even more; "If you go out with me I'll leave him alone,"

God he was frustrating! Why couldn't he just leave her alone, Lily thought. Instead she said, "I wouldn't go out with you if it was a choice between you and the giant squid."

James' attention turned back to Sev and he hexed him, causing the other boy to hang upside down with his underwear showing. Lily couldn't help it, but she tried to keep her face stern but she knew it twitched, wanting to smile. Instead she told Potter to let him down. He obliged, saying to Sev,

"There you go. You're lucky Evans was here, Snivellus"

"I don't need help from filthy little mudbloods like her!" he shot back.

"Fine," snapped Lily, "I won't bother in the future. And I'd wash my pants if I were you Snivellus"

Lily watched as James got all annoyed and tried to make Sev apologise to her, but instead of being grateful, she turned on James "Messing up your hair because you think it looks cool, to look like you've just got off your broomstick, showing off with that stupid snitch, walking down corridors and hexing anyone who annoys you just because you can - I'm surprised your broomstick can get off the ground with that fat head on it. You make me SICK."

She then turned, tears threatening to run down her cheeks, and hurried away. She heard Potter shout from behind her "Evans! Hey, EVANS!" but did not and could not turn around.

When she eventually came back to present she heard Marlene mumbling under her breath to Alice, "Stupid Snape, couldn't leave you well enough alone could he? Look at her! She's completely out of it now."

"Umm guys, I am right here you know," Lily told her friends, "I'm fine, don't make it such a big deal."

"Fine, let's just finish up eating and head back upstairs. Dorm room, common room or library?" Marlene asked.

"Dorm room" both Alice and Lily replied.

They all quickly finished up eating and stood to start heading back to their dorm room, when from further down the Gryffindor table they heard, "Hey Mar! Come here!"

Looking around, the three girls saw that James was calling her over.

"I'll meet you guys up there," Marlene told her friends. Both girls nodded and began to leave. Lily however stopped and turned to her.

"Hey Mar? If he wants to know what happened with me, don't tell him okay? It's none of his business."

"Sure thing, now go. I'll be up there soon."

Marlene watched her friends leave the great hall and then herself turned to walk over to the Marauders. "What's up?" she asked, sitting down next to James.

"What's wrong with Evans?"

Marlene sighed. Of course he wanted to know. "Nothing's wrong, or at least it's something you need not worry about"

"Ohhh come on Mar! Teeeelllll us!" Sirius begged her.

"Leave it alone Sirius, it's none of your business"

"I know it has something to do with Snivellus"

"James don't get involved. Mar we're just worried. She's my- I mean our, friend too," Remus said, joining the conversation.

This was kind of true. Remus and Lily were actually really good friends. He was the one marauder that Lily truly liked and got along with. For some things, Remus would turn to Lily for help. Lily's relationships with each of the other Marauders were slightly different. With Peter, it was pretty much non-existent. They had spoken a few words but nothing more. Lily thought that he seemed like an okay guy, considering who he was friends with. Sirius again was different. She actually got along with him pretty well, all things considered. He was quite bright and sometimes she would ask either him or Remus for help. She also admired him. She would never admit it out loud but she admired how he separated himself from his family and became his own person. However he could be pretty annoying, especially when it came to James. Then the final Marauder was James Potter. Lily could not stand him. Through their six years at Hogwarts he had been a bigheaded toerag who would not leave her alone. At every single opportunity, James would ask Lily out. And every single time, she would tell him exactly where he could shove his offers.

"Yeah I know Remus, but honestly it's not my place to tell and she asked me not to. Now if you excuse me, I've got friends upstairs waiting for me," Marlene told the boys before she stood up and left.

The four boys watched her leave before turning to one another.

"James," Remus began, "don't do anything. It's not of your business and you don't even know what happened. Plus if you do anything, she'll hate you even more."

"I know Moony, but you can't expect me to sit back and not so something! Did you not see her? Ehh whatever, I'm outta here, I've gotta look at that potions essay for Slughorn for tomorrow." James stood up and walked away from his friends knowing their eyes were following him as he left the hall.

As James slowly made his way back to the Gryffindor common room he was lost in his thoughts. He was worried about Lily. Seeing her like that actually killed him, knowing that something was upsetting her. The entire school knew that James had a 'crush' on Lily, but no really knew how he truly felt. Not even his friends, he had never really told them. He assumed they all knew, especially with how he acted and of course how he had asked her out so many times. Only Moony really knew James thought. Moony was just one of those guys that could just see into you like he knew exactly what you were thinking. The others, they just thought it was an obsession. Which in a way, James knew it was, but to him that wasn't the point. He truly cared for Lily and wanted her to like him in return. But whenever he was around her or is she was involved in something he couldn't think properly and majorly screwed up, making her hate him even more.

This was it, he decided. He was going to change. Not change by stopping his pranks with his friends, but change towards Lily. He would maybe back off a bit to be a friend. Let her see what kind of guy he could be.

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**I hope you guys like the start :) I would love some feedback on what you think! **

**Black-Lightningrunes-13 xx**


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2:_

Lily was heading towards the portrait hole the next morning carry a heap of books to the library. She had a free and decided she would use her time to prepare for some upcoming exams. As she moved closer to the hole she wondered the best way to actually open up the door. That was until she heard from behind her,

"Here, let me open it for you,"

Turning her head, she saw James Potter. "Thanks Potter," she said indifferently. James opened the door and held it open for Lily to allow her through. She continued walking until she heard, "Evans, stop!"

She stopped and waited as she heard the footsteps behind her.

"Yeah?" she asked as he moved up next to her.

"Well, Uhh- I was just wondering if you were heading to the library. I am too, so I figured we could… umm, well, walk there together?" he mumbled out as a question, "I mean, if you were, we would be heading in the same direction..." he continued, trailing off.

Lily was shocked. First he was speaking to her without asking if she wanted to go out with him, and secondly, he seemed really hesitant about doing so.

"Uhh yeah, I am heading there. So if you want you can, I guess," Lily told him before continuing to walk. They walked on in silence, however it was surprisingly not that awkward. Before they reached the library James wanted to make some type of conversation though. Lily, on the other hand, was just wondering what this was all about, considering not once during their walk had he asked her out.

When they arrived at the library Lily went to move across to a table away from James when he said, "Hey Evans? Can I have your help with potions? I gotta do that potions essay for Slughorn, before the class next. I mean I've done most of it but there's some parts I'm stuck on."

Lily stood there blankly for a bit. "Uh sure. Umm… want to help me with transfiguration then?" she eventually replied.

They went and sat down and started doing work, each asking their own question when they needed it. Lily found it odd; she was actually able to concentrate really well with James next to her. Usually she would have to be away from others. Her mind wandered, from her subjects today to the 'conversation' with Sev yesterday. She got lost in her thoughts until she heard, "Evans? You okay?"

Of course! He only wants to find out about what happened yesterday, Lily thought. "Yeah all's fine Potter, none of your business anyway," she said shortly.

James was confused. Did he ask her something to offend her? He was just worried because she had started blanking out and just wanted to make sure she was okay. "Uh okay, I just saw you blanking out and wanted to make sure you were okay, or understood what you were doing in transfiguration.

"Oh Potter! I'm sorry! I thought you were bringing up yesterday. I know you saw me and asked Mar what happened."

"Whoa, did you just apologise to me?" James asked with a smile on his face, "Never thought I would see that day…"

Lily laughed, "Yeah I guess so Potter. Don't expect it again anytime soon-"

"Well well well, what have we here? Are my eyes deceiving me or are you two actually sitting there having a conversation?"

James and Lily turned to see Sirius walking towards them.

"What are you doing in the library? Didn't even realise you knew where it was." Lily commented as Sirius sat down.

"Ohhh ha ha Lily-Flower, of course I know where the library is. Have you not heard of snogging in the stacks?"

"Ahh of course I should have realised, and do you mind not calling me Lily-flower. You know I hate it."

"The point exactly Lily-flower," he said before turning to James, "So Prongs did you find out what Snivellus did to her yet?"

"What? Eurgh, of course that's the only reason you were being nice to me! And how do you know it was Sev who did anything to me? I was just under a lot of stress yesterday, that's why I was crying! But no, you two can't leave me well enough alone and just wanted to butt into other peoples' business and find any excuse to hex Sev!" and with that, Lily packed up all her books and walked away.

"Touchy, touchy," Sirius smirked.

"Really Padfoot? Did you have to mention anything?"

"What? I thought that's what was going on?"

"Uhh no! But how do you not know girls?! You don't bring up wondering why they were upset!"

"And how would you know that my dear Prongs?"

"Common sense, just ask Moony. You spend enough time with girls, I figured you would realise"

"Yeah in broom closets, not talking about feelings"

James sighed. "I'm going to fail this potions essay thanks to you. I have to fix this up within 15 minutes."

Lily couldn't believe it. As she walked towards the great hall she muttered to herself, "Stupid git. I should have known, should have realised! Of course that's all he wanted to know! If he wasn't going to ask me out it had to be - "

"Uh, Lily?"

Looking up Lily saw Mary Patterson, a fellow 6th year Gryffindor. Mary occupied one of the other beds in Lily's dorm room with Marlene and Alice. She was quite bright but very shy. The two girls were quite close, just not 'best friends'.

"Oh, hi Mary!"

"Hey, you okay? You seem to be mumbling a lot there. James again?"

"Yeah, I'm good," she smiled, "Of course. Who else?"

"Oh, I'm sure there are plenty of others who are on your hit list. What, he ask you out again?" Mary laughed.

"Actually, no. He was being really kind. We were in he library and he offered to help me with transfiguration if I helped with potions"

"Okay, I'm not seeing the problem here," Mary said, confused.

"Well Sirius came and joined us and-"

"Wait Sirius knows where the library is?" Mary asked jokingly.

"Ha! That's what I said! But yeah, he joined us and asked if Potter had found out why I was upset"

"Oh. Guys suck,"

"Yup," Lily said, popping the 'p'.

"Maybe that was just Black being an idiot? If Potter was being normal; maybe he wasn't going to ask you. But who knows what runs through that boy's mind. Come on, we've got potions to get to."

When James arrived to potions he found he was one of the last ones there, other than Sirius who followed close behind him. The class was small; most of the 6th year Gryffindors took potions as well as three Slytherins, three Ravenclaws and two Hufflepuffs. James sat in his usual spot next to Remus, with Sirius sitting down on his other side.

"Hey Moony"

"Hi Prongs. What's wrong with you?" Remus asked James, noticing that something was bothering his friend.

"Oh he's just disappointed because Lily-flower is annoyed at him again" Sirius answered for his friend.

James glares at Sirius before turning to explain to Remus, "I was in the library with Lily, we were studying, and Sirius comes up and asks if I found out what Snivellus did to her. She of course assumed that was the only reason I was being polite and she stormed off,"

"What was Sirius doing in the library? Does he even know where it is? And -"

"Why does everyone think I don't know where the library is?" Sirius whined, interrupting Remus.

"And seriously, how could you be so tactless Padfoot? Everyone knows you don't do that. Plus Lily is already sensitive about Prongs," Remus continued, ignoring the fact that Sirius had interrupted him.

"Hey! I'm not tactless, I was just curious. And considering they were actually being civil to one another..." Sirius trailed off.

By this time Professor Slughorn had walked into the classroom and had set up for the theory lesson.

"Okay class, with the exam coming up soon, today will be a study session to allow you to ask me any questions. I am also expecting all of you to hand in your essays," he told the class.

This was something the students were used to at the moment. With exams over the next couple of weeks that's how they were spending most of their classes.

At the end of the class, Lily slowly packed up her belongings. She had been up the front asking Professor Slughorn about the Draught of Living Death, so most of the class was either finishing up or had left. As she started packing up she heard someone say, "Lily can we talk?"

Turning she saw Sev.

"What? You can talk to me now your 'friends' are gone?" pointing around to where Severus had been sitting with his fellow Slytherins Mulcibur and Avery.

"It's not like that -"

"Save it Sev. I'm pretty sure we both made it clear yesterday, just leave me alone. You - oh never mind."

"Hey Evans, is everything okay?" turning, Lily saw James moving towards them.

"Yeah Potter, everything fine. Just keep going." she said roughly, still annoyed about earlier that day. James however did not move.

"You heard her. Go away" Snape sneered at James.

"I'm not going anywhere, clearly Evans here doesn't actually want to talk to you, so leave her be."

Lily was shocked. James was actually trying to help her without it being patronizing or turning into a fight. At least yet.

"Leave us alone Potter," Snape continue to glare at James, "this is none of your business" as he said this, his fists began to bunch up.

"Well apologise to Evans or leave her alone. You're obviously bothering her and she doesn't want to talk to you," James said matter of factly.

"I said go away Potter, let me talk to Lily ALONE!" Snape started getting really annoyed.

"I said no, I won't go anywhere."

Lily, seeing where this was heading, stepped in between them quickly. SMACK!

Tumbling backwards, Lily's face started to hurt and her eyes started to tear up. Blood began to run down her face.

"Lily, I'm so sorry! Why'd you move? I was supposed to hit him!" Snape began moving towards her.

"No! Stay away from me!" Lily screamed as she held her face.

"Lily! Please! I'm sorry!"

"Get away from her!" James yelled at Snape. He had moved closer trying to help in some way, and had surprisingly not been pushed away.

"Make me! Move away from her Potter!"

"I'm not the one who hit her!"

"WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON IN HERE?"

Turning around the three students saw Professor Slughorn.

"Lily! Are you okay? Go to the hospital wing immediately! As for you two," he said turning towards Severus and James, "stay here. I'm going to get Professor McGonagall"

Lily and Slughorn left the room, leaving Severus and James alone.

It was not long after that Slughorn left that he returned with Professor McGonagall. She was not happy at all,

"Both of you, my office now! Mr Potter, on your way please collect Miss Evans from the hospital wing. I would like to speak to her as well."

On the way to the hospital wing, James bumped into Sirius, Remus and Peter.

"Where have you been?" Peter asked him first.

"Long story short, Snivellus annoyed Lily, I stepped in. He hit her when he went to hit me and I have to now go get Lily from the hospital wing," he said to his friends and continued to move down the corridor.

"Whoa, did anyone get in a few swipes at Snivvy?" Sirius asked as he, Remus and Peter followed behind James who was moving very fast.

"Unfortunately no. I was about to but Slughorn walked in."

"Damn."

"Tell me about it."

They had arrived outside the hospital wing when James turned to his friends and said, "Not trying to be mean but if I walk out and you guys are here, Lily would not be happy… so can I meet up with you all later? I'll tell you everything,"

"Yeah sure Prongs," Remus replied and walked off, dragging the other two with him.

When James entered the hospital wing he found Madame Pomfrey tending to Lily who had a massive black eye. "Uh hi, um, Professor McGonagall would like Lily to come to her office so she can speak with her," James said announcing his presence.

"One moment Mr Potter and you can both leave together," Madame Pomfrey said as she stood to move to her small office on the opposite end of the hospital wing. James looked across at Lily, gasping at what he saw. She hadn't been properly cleaned up yet, meaning she was covered in blood. But what had made James gasp was the huge bruise surrounding her right eye.

"Shit Evans, I'm so sorry"

"Why are you sorry?" Lily asked him, shocked that he was apologising.

"Well, he was aiming for me."

"Yeah that's true," she said with a small smile, "well not that I blame you, but, apology accepted. Also, thank you."

"Umm, for what?" James asked.

Lily looked at him when he said this, and was surprised at the look she saw on his face. What she saw was the true shock and confusion, but also the sincere worry for her.

"Well, for coming in and interrupting us. I honestly don't think I could have stood there and spoken to him. Not after..." Lily trailed off.

James wanted to ask what she meant by 'not after' but as soon as he went to, Madame Pomfrey walked back in.

"Here, take this," she said, handing a potion to Lily, "It will help, but you're going to have that black eye for a while."

"Oh, well thanks."

James heard the disappointment in Lily's voice.

"Don't worry about it Evans, if anyone tries to give you a hard time..." he trailed off as Lily turned to him with an actual smile on her face.

"Thanks, but I can take care of myself."

"Oh I know that, but I'll be there if any 'certain' people try anything…"

Lily couldn't help but smile at James. She shook her head. What was she thinking? It should not be like this! For most of the day they had been having civil conversations. No screaming matches, no hexing and no obsessive asking out. He had actually made her smile! She had really been enjoying herself and found herself at ease when they were in the library. At least until she found out the only reason he had been so nice was so he could find out why she had been upset the previous night. Damn her always been hungry, and her inability to skip a meal! Though she did wonder what the day would have been like if he hadn't seen her. Would he still have been as kind? Would she be sitting in the hospital wing with a black eye?

"Um, we should probably head off to see McGonagall now," James said, interrupting Lily from her thoughts.

"Yeah alright.. Thanks Madame Pomfrey," she said, before turning to leave.

The walk to professor McGonagall's office was quiet. James kept looking across at Lily, which kept bothering her. For the most part of the walk she was keeping her head down, looking at the floor, not wanting to be seen by someone just yet. Not knowing what she was doing, she abruptly stopped.

"Evans?" James, who had walked a few steps ahead of Lily, stopped and looked back at her. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Then why did you stop?"

"Can I ask you something?" she asked him but continued before he could answer, "Why?"

"Why what?" James asked back confused.

"Why have you been normal today? You haven't asked me out once and you've actually been genuine. But you also care about how I'm feeling right now. I can tell you do. Are you just trying to find yet another excuse to hate Sev?"

"The truth is I _was_ worried last night when you came downstairs to dinner and because of Marlene, I figured out it was because of Sniv- uh Snape. And no, Marlene did not tell me anything, her glares and shouting did kind of give it away. But I was paying attention. As for me being polite and helping you, I would do that for anyone. I don't need another excuse to hate Snape and as for how you're feeling..." James paused.

"Well you did just get hit in the face by someone who is you friend."

"Was," Lily automatically said.

"I'm sorry?"

"Sev _was_ my friend. He stopped being my friend a long time ago, as you know well enough."

"That doesn't stop it from hurting though. You still have all the memories of when you were friends and when someone you shared those memories with does something, it still hurts you. When someone you care about or even once cared about does something, it always hurts. Not all friendships last, but the memories do."

Lily finally looked up, shock obviously written across her face. When did James Potter ever sound so wise?

"If that answers your question, should we continue moving?" James asked Lily, hoping his answer had been okay.

"Yeah let's go," Lily said slowly beginning to move.

When they arrived at Professor McGonagall's, Snape was leaving her office. As soon as he saw Lily he spoke, "Lily please, I'm so sorry. Please forgive me."

"Keep walking Snivellus, she doesn't want to talk with you," James said moving in front of Lily.

"Shove off Potter," Snape snarled at James.

"That is enough!"

Looking at the office door, the three found themselves facing Professor McGonagall.

"Mr Potter and Miss Evans, inside now. As for you Mr Snape, please head to class please."

Inside the office, James and Lily felt small. They knew they technically had done nothing wrong and that McGonagall would treat them fairly, especially as she was the head of their house. But sitting in her office after an incident was never fun.

"Now, would someone care to explain to me what exactly happened," Professor McGonagall said as she sat in her chair opposite James and Lily.

"Well..." Lily began trailing off. "It kind of is my fault this happened -"

"No it isn't! If I hadn't interrupted, Lily wouldn't have a black eye right now!" James stopped Lily from continuing.

"Potter!" Lily protested.

"Stop you two!" McGonagall said, "I will listen to both of you, Mr Potter, you first."

"Well, at the end of potions I saw Snape talking to Lily, but overheard that she didn't want to talk. So I intervened, he got mad and went to hit me but Lily, who was trying to stop a fight from happening, moved in the way and got hit. I was just telling him to leave her alone as it was clear that she didn't want to talk to him. But I think there's more to the story," he finished telling Professor McGonagall but looked across at Lily as he finished.

"Miss Evans?"

Lily who had been looking at her hands looked up and gave a small nod.

"Mr Potter," McGonagall said, "You may leave now."

James stood and walked towards the door before he left he gave Lily one last look. He found that Lily was actually looking at him an their eyes locked, however he tuned and left. Instead of walking away he decided to wait outside for Lily.

From the corner of her eyes, Lily watched as James left the room. When their eyes had met, Lily had to quickly look away. In his eyes she saw concern for herself especially since she admitted, in front of him, that there was more to the story which was the complete opposite to what she had claimed earlier in the library.

Professor McGonagall watched James as he left, and she saw the way they had looked at each other. Smiling to herself, Minerva McGonagall was glad that she was finally seeing an exchange between those two that didn't end in a screaming match. She knew they would be perfect for one another and although James clearly liked Lily, she was too stubborn to realise this.

"Now Miss Evans, would _you_ care to explain?" Professor McGonagall asked, making sure Lily was paying attention again.

"Um, sure. Well everyone knows about the fall out Sev and I had last year, and since that day we hadn't really spoken. At least until yesterday..."

Lily went on telling the story of what had happened over the last couple of days. She had begun crying, though she didn't really know why.

Professor McGonagall stopped Lily when she said how Severus had hit her. She had gotten the information she needed which was slightly different to the story she had previously received from Snape, which had been more about putting the blame on James Potter. She could see however this was not the case for even Lily, who had over the years shown to everyone her dislike for James was there standing up for him.

"Miss Evans, its okay. You do not need to continue. I have received enough information. You nor Mr Potter did nothing wrong. When you are ready you may leave."

Lily stayed for a couple of minutes. She waited until her crying had stopped and she could easily walk past people without looking like she was crying. When she stood up to leave, she said thank you before rushing out of the office.

When James heard the door, he quickly moved away from the wall so that Lily would know that he was there.

"Hey Evans you okay?" he asked when he saw her. Except Lily didn't even look up, instead she kept walking with her head down.

"Evans! ... Evans! ... Lily?" he called out after her but she turned around. He went to follow but heard from behind him, "Just leave her. She just needs some time."

Turning, James saw Professor McGonagall standing in her office's doorway. Giving her a small nod, he walked away to look for his friends.


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter 3:_

Over the next week, the sixth year students were completing their end of year exams. Rumors of what had happened to Lily had spread around, going to the extremes of even saying that Lily had been the one to start a fight. Yet only a few actually knew the truth. When Lily's roommates had first seen her they were shocked. But they were all grateful that James Potter had been with her when it happened. None of them blamed him, especially since they knew that Lily wouldn't have wanted to talk to Snape, and that James had helped her avoid this seeing as they weren't there. But what worried them was the fact that Lily had gone silent and had thrown herself into studying for exams. This wasn't unusual but it was different to other years.

James too had become distracted. He was still the same person, but Remus noticed something was off. Especially when they were planning their end of year prank to perform at the last night in the great hall. He hadn't told his friends what exactly happened, just what they needed to know, keeping the conversations between him and Lily to himself.

"Prongs, everything okay?" Remus had asked him a few days after that day.

"What? Yeah I'm fine. Let's get this prank planning started" he had replied. James didn't know why he was do distracted, but he studied, flew through his exams and helped plan the prank as he usually would, hoping that others wouldn't notice anything different.

It was the day after their exams an exactly a week since Snape had hit Lily and James was spending some time by the lake with Marlene. They were both lying on their backs in silence, relaxing, being relieved that their exams were over.

"So how much time am I spending with you and Sirius these holidays?" Marlene asked breaking the silence.

James laughed, "As much time as you want. You know you are welcome whenever. My parents consider you as their daughter, so you would be expected to come visit."

"Aww! I love your parents. Plus you still owe me a Quidditch match from last holidays. I'm gonna kick your arse!"

"Sure you are" James said rolling his eyes, "What else you going to be doing?"

"Umm well Lily, Alice an I will probably meet up a fair bit. Do sleepovers, go shopping, the usual girl stuff."

"How is she?"

Marlene knew he was asking about Lily. When she had told her friends what had happened she included everything, including her conversations with James. Marlene knew she wanted to bring it up, especially with her, because they had a different view of James. She then remembered the conversation she had had with Alice, when Lily wasn't around.

_"Do you think she'll begin to see how good he actually is?" Marlene had asked Alice._

_"I'm not sure Mar. I hope so. She's been acting differently. I mean she always throws herself into studies around this time, but this year is different."_

_"yeah I've noticed that. It's clear she's not coping with the whole Snape thing. As much as we all hated it, he had been close with him. But I just figured that things between her and James would change," Marlene sighed. She had hope that two of her best friends could finally start getting along. Alice noticed this and put her arm around her friends shoulder, "I'm sure something is bound to happen. She just need time. And honestly, if she would stop being so stubborn, she would realise how perfect they actually are for each other."_

When Marlene answered James, she kept it simple, "Yeah she's fine. It's been hard though, I mean she and the git had been close. So him punching her and acting like a jackass doesn't help."

"Am I ever going to find out what happened to start everything?" James asked. He was still curious to why Lily had had puffy eyes that night at dinner.

"Nope. There's nothing to tell. My question for you is have you even tried to speak to her since last week?"

"What do you think Mar? Of course I have! But she just keeps ignoring me! I thought things would be okay. We spoke that day, and got along. I made sure I wasn't an arse or make a fool out of myself and yet nothing! What the hell am I supposed to do? At the moment space is all I can think of!

"Wow, just let it all out there James" Marlene said with a smile.

"Sorry" he said sheepishly, "I haven't spoken to the guys about it. They don't know about the conversations we had. I reckon Sirius would just make it a bigger joke. He's my best friend, but he knows nothing about girls,"

"I was kidding. I get it and you know you can always talk to me. But seriously James, you're smart. You'll figure out how to get through to her. You know how complicated that girl can be."

"Thanks Mar, but it took me six years for any progress at all"

"The first stage is the hardest. After that it gets easier."

"Sure I will be... Ohhh shit! What's the time?" he exclaimed. Upon seeing the time he quickly rose, "Sorry, gotta go Mar. Meeting the guys!"

Marlene laughed, "Let me guess. Prank for the final feast?" she called out after him.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" he called behind him, as he ran towards the castle.

Lily sat in the transfiguration classroom by herself. It was where in the past week she had come to be alone in the past week. Professor McGonagall understood and let her be. She sat in the corner by the window just thinking. She knew that her friends were worried about her since the previously week but Lily honestly wasn't sure what was bothering her so much. She thought it could have been the realisation of the downfall with Sev. Having to go through it all again, but that had happened so long ago she honestly hadn't thought too much about it. Sure she would remember the times that they were younger and that would make her smile. But she was contempt with how things had become since their fall out. Then there was how Potter had acted on that day. She had been really confused and just didn't want to face him once she had finished talking to Professor McGonagall and had purposely ignored him when she had heard him call after her. Was she _that_ wrong about James Potter? But one day shouldn't change anything. She knew she should talk to her friends, but really didn't feel up to it. But these weren't the only things. Outside Hogwarts, things weren't great in the wizarding world. Muggleborns especially were having a hard time, and honestly she was scared so leave the safety of the walls that surrounded her.

Lily was brought out of her thoughts when she heard from outside her door someone say, "Let's go in here, Minnie won't mind at all." lily rose as the door opened finding herself facing the marauders with Sirius black in the lead.

"Lily-flower!" Sirius exclaimed when he saw her, "Whatcha doing in here?"

Lily rolled her eyes at the use of the name Lily-flower, "Oh nothing. Just sitting in here. I'll go now if you want," she said moving towards the door.

"You don't have to. We'll just go somewhere else," James said looking her in the eyes.

Tap,tap,tap.

Lily looked away from James towards where she had heard the noise. Sitting on the windowsill was a small brown owl.

"Peggie!" Lily exclaimed. She moved across and removed the letter attached to the owl's foot. There were actually two there. Patting her owl's head she opened the first letter.

_Dear Lily,_

_I would just like to inform you that I have been going out with a boy for quite a while now and it is very serious. If Mum and Dad have not yet mentioned him to you I would be surprised. They think he is quite good for me. His name is Vernon Dursley. I am telling you this because I know you'll be home from that school of freaks that you attend and that you'll be meeting him. When you do I want nothing about you to be brought up. I assume I'll see you in a few days,_

_Petunia_

Lily could not believe what she just read! She scrunched up the letter and said, "Don't worry stay here, I'm going," and she rushed away from the boys. She continued running until she turned down the corridor and stopped. She was out of breath and did not want to keep going. Instead she moved to the window ledge near her and sat her self in it. Tucking away from the edge, closer to the window. She pulled out the other letter, knowing it would be from her parents.

_Dearest Lily,_

_We are so glad that you think you did a really good job on your exams. Though we no of course you wouldn't! You are so talented an we are so very proud of you._

_Everything at home has been good, your father and I have been going to the club a bit more. It's lots of fun and we've met a few new people._

_As to your question, The girls of course are welcome to stay here for as long as they want. They are both most welcome whenever they please._

_I know Petunia has written you a separate letter and she has insisted it be attached and sent at the same time. I'm sorry for what ever she has written but I assume it is about Vernon Dursley. He is still as bad as what I told you from when we first met him and no matter how many subtle hints your father and I drop, your sister does not seem to understand. You'll meet him when you come home._

_Your father sends his love and as do I. We miss you very much and cannot wait to see you._

_Lots of love,_

_Mum._

Lily sat on the ledge with tears in her eyes and a small smile on her face. She loved her family so much, even her sister who thought she was a freak just for being who she was. She also missed them so much when she is at Hogwarts and writes to her parents constantly.

The Marauders watched as Lily ran out if the transfiguration classroom.

"What's wrong with Lily-flower?" Sirius asked staring at the door.

Peter shrugged, "Oh who cares, she's a girl, they are _always_ moody. Let's get ready for tomorrow night!"

"I like your thinking Wormtail! Let's do this!" Sirius exclaimed. He and Peter moved towards one of the desks pulling out the parchments that their planning is on. Remus went to move towards them but he realised James wasn't moving.

"James? You okay? You going to help?"

"Huh? What?" James asked confused.

"Are. You. Okay?" Remus asked again.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Let's do this" James said before moving towards Sirius and Peter, however not before looking at the door, which did not go unnoticed by Remus.

For about 30 minutes, the gang sat there continuing their plans for the next night. Everything was pretty much in order and they were confident they could pull it off. Throughout the entire time, however, James had been distracted. All of his friends were starting to get worried. They knew thy since the previous week something had been distracting James, but they decided to leave him be, hoping that he would talk to them when he was ready. However they had not yet and Sirius was extremely impatient, "Okay! That's it!" he exclaimed after they had finish their last minute organization. They all looked at him in shock at the outburst, James and Peter with complete confusion and Remus with a look of warning on his face.

"Padfoot, just leave it" Remus warned him.

"No way, he is my best friend and it's about time he spoke!"

James realised it was about him they were talking about, "Uh guys, I'm sitting right here,"

"Ohhh" Peter said under his breath, realizing what was going on.

"Prongs, look we're worried about you. Since last week you have been acting weirdly. So has Lily-flower. So what the fuck happened last week?"

"Honestly, I have no idea! So I told you some of what happened last week. So obviously, you know I spent some time in the library with her. Thing was we were actually able to converse, just like normal people. It felt really good. Then you, Padfoot, came in and ruined it. I stayed back after potions to try and talk an to explain to her that I wasn't trying to get information out of her, but then Snivellus went up to her. That's when I intervened. As you guys know, I had to go get her from the hospital wing. While we were in there and on our way to see McGonagall we were able to talk more. She even smiled a few times. She had asked me what why I was being so nice and I answered her honestly and I thought she liked what I said. She even tried to make sure the blame wasn't put on me! But since then I haven't been able to talk to her! She won't even stay near me! And I don't know what I actually did this time!"

When James stopped his explanation, Sirius let out a low whistle. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"I don't know mate, just figured it would be better to keep to my self. I thought that after that day, things were going to be okay between me and her."

Peter wasn't good at giving advice or saying the right stuff in these situations, so he just patted his friend on the arm.

Remus however said, "James. She's probably just confused and going with through a rough time. Plus she's having to face Snape again after all this time. It would be hard for her. Just give her time..."

"Yeah so everyone keeps telling me," James said glumly.

"Cheer up Prongs!" Sirius said, slapping his friend on the back, "Lily-flower will come around"

Lily eventually went searching for her friends. She knew they would be starting to get worried. She found them sitting in the common room waiting for her. "Lily!" Marlene exclaimed at the same time Alice said, "Hi Lils."

"Hey guys what's up?"

"Oh nothing much. We were just waiting for you... Wait…What's wrong?" Marlene asked noticing something was up.

"Letters from home. Got one from Petunia."

"Oh god Lils. What did it say?" Alice asked gently.

"The usual. Calling me a freak. Oh and I have to be careful because that stupid boyfriend of hers will be there a lot. But you guys are welcome to come over whenever. I had a letter from my parents too."

"Damn! We have to meet him?"

"If you want to come over to mine, then you probably will."

"Ehh we'll put up with him. Just to see our Lily," Alice told her friend.

"Thanks guys. I don't think I could cope the entire break. By the way, I'm sorry"

"What for?" her friends asked.

"You know, the whole being weird thing this past week. I honestly don't even know what's going on. I think a whole bunch of different things just bundled together and I just wasn't in a talking mood. So yeah, I'm sorry."

"It's okay Lils, we figured you would talk to us when you were ready," Alice told her friend getting up to give her a hug.

"WOO! YEAH FRIENDS FOREVER!" Marlene yelled as she tackled both Alice and Lily into a hug, causing them all to squeal and fall to the floor. Lily was unfortunately at the bottom of the pile, laughing she said. "Oi! Get off me!" she pushed Alice off her, and positioned herself to get up. But right in front of her face was a hand.

"Here let me help you."

Looking up Lily saw James Potter standing over her with his hand stretched out and a smile on his face. She looked across and saw that Sirius and Marlene were laughing having their own play fight pushing each other to the ground, while Remus had just helped Alice up.

"Thanks," Lily said to James grabbing onto his hand allowing him to pull her up. When she stood, she realised how close she was actually standing to him. Their bodies were touching and their hands were still intertwined. Lily stopped for a moment, her mind wasn't processing anything, she could feel James' body move from his breathing and her heart pumping in her chest. Realising she was still holding onto James, she quickly took a few steps back, feeling the blood rush to her cheeks. She kept her eyes to the floor but from the corner of her eyes she saw James run a hand through his messy hair, with a small smile on his face.

"Uhh so what was the reason you guys were playing stacks on in the common room?" Remus asked once Marlene and Sirius had calmed down.

"We were hugging! Duh!" Marlene exclaimed.

"On the floor?" James asked skeptically.

"James, have you not learnt? Never question these girls," a voice said from behind the group.

"Oh hey there Frank. Didn't see you there. Nah, I never learn, but if you had seen them you would've asked too" James told the boy who had just joined them.

Frank Longbottom was another sixth year who shared a dorm room with the Marauders. He was a bright and genuine guy who was friends with everyone, except of course the Slytherins. Frank was also Alice's three month boyfriend.

"Hey, are you questioning what we do?" Alice asked Frank. She pretended to be offended and had her arms folded across her.

"No, no, of course not!" frank protested moving closer to Alice.

"That's what I thought," se said giving him a kiss on the cheek while Sirius coughed, "Whipped."

The guys all laughed while the girls just rolled their eyes at Sirius.

"Just because you can't get a girlfriend," Marlene said poking Sirius in the stomach. She had planted herself on the arm of the chair he was sitting on.

" Marlene. How many times do I need to tell people, I do not need a girlfriend! There are things called library stacks and broom closets. So I'm all set."

"You are such a pig Sirius," Lily said to him, shaking her head, though she was laughing at him.

"Lily-flower you just have to experience this," indicating to himself, "and you'll completely understand," Sirius said.

"Ew gross! I'll take my chances with the giant squid thanks!" Lily exclaimed. While the group all laughed at her comment, Sirius faked hurt, " I have been rejected by Lily-flower, and for the giant squid too! Whatever will I do?"

"Oh shut up Padfoot!" James told his friend shoving him in the shoulder.

From this, they began to have a mock fight. Some of the first and second years who were in the common room became silent very quickly. They saw the two most popular guys in school, who were best friends, having a fight. That was until they saw all the other sixth year students around the two laughing. When they calmed down, the sixth years remained around the common room fireplace talking about their plans for the holidays and about what their final year would be like. For tomorrow was their last full day at Hogwarts as sixth year students.


	4. Chapter 4

_Chapter 4:_

The last day at Hogwarts was exciting. The seventh years were running around reminiscing their years as well as playing pranks on all the younger students. Professor McGonagall got annoyed quickly however as Peeves had decided to join in but make things a lot worse. Lily, Marlene, Alice and Frank sat by the lake enjoying the sunshine. The Marauders were however nowhere to be seen.

"They are probably off preparing for their usual 'prank' at the feast tonight," Alice mused.

"Probably," Marlene said excitedly, "I love them! Every year they get better!"

"I'm just curious of where they get all the spells to do them. The magic they perform is great," Lily joined into the conversation.

"Wow did everybody just hear that?! Lily Evans giving the Marauders a compliment! I think everybody is going to die of shock!" Marlene joked around.

"Ohhh haha Mar. Everyone can see how impressive the magic they use is. Just because I'm not fangirling all over them and instead can see how annoying they actually are," Lily stubbornly remarked

"Are we talking about _all_ the marauders or just a certain one? Since I'm pretty sure you get along with at least one,"

"Okay fine other than Remus, they are all stuck up,"

Alice and Frank sat their silently listening to Lily and Marlene with smiles on their faces.

"Hey don't think we haven't noticed this changed attitude to James!" Marlene was saying.

"Mar, I don't know what you are talking about."

"Sure you don't Lils. We were actually able to sit with them, since it didn't result in you two having an argument of some sort. Plus I may have been mucking around but Alice told me that she noticed what happen when James had helped you off the ground."

"Well, she obviously imagining things," Lily tried to say convincingly but her friends didn't believe her.

"Are you saying that I'm lying Lils?" Alice asked finally deciding to join in.

"Well, it didn't happen.."

"What didn't happen? Mar didn't say anything about what I exactly saw,"

"Whatever you think you saw didn't happen. He helped me to my feet that's all!"

Then why are you in so much denial?" Marlene asked her, "Alice would you care to tell Lily what you saw?"

"Well... After Remus pulled me up, I looked across and saw James offering to help Lils. You took his hand and stood, except you were wayyy too close. Like your bodies were literally touching. Anyway you kinda just stood there, until all of a sudden you pulled back. Plus I saw your cheeks, you were blushing!"

"No I wasn't!" Lily quickly denied.

" Haha Al! Look at her she's blushing now! Come on Lils! What's going on?"

Lily knew that there was no point in arguing. She knew she had been caught out.

"I dont know!" she finally admitted, "I don't even know why I blushed or anything. It's like I was so close and I just couldn't think. And no before you two, or well actually three," she said looking at Frank, "get any ideas, I don't like him or anything. It's been a weird week."

After that, they remained in silence. Lily lied along the ground using a jumper as a pillow, while Marlene used Lily's stomach as a pillow. Alice was leaning on Frank, wrapped in his arms.

In the Great Hall that evening, James was jumpy. "Calm down Prongs. It will work," Sirius said.

"But what of it doesn't?"

"It will. Every time we practiced it worked," Remus told him.

"So what's the big show tonight?" Marlene asked the marauders as she sat herself next to James. With her was Lily, Alice and Frank.

"That you are just going to have to wait for," Peter told her.

"Shhh Wormtail!" Sirius shushed him.

"Seriously? Everybody knows you're going to do something it's like they are all waiting for it!" Marlene complained.

That was true, looking around the Great Hall there were people glancing across at the group, even the professors.

"Well, fine," Sirius grumbled, "but we have to make sure everyone is here."

They waited about 10 minutes more. James was as nervous as anything to make

sure they pulled it off properly. "Okay, now," he mumbled under his breath.

Marlene hearing this smiled in anticipation and nudged the others to start paying attention. Under the table, the marauders pulled out their wands and started mumbling incantations.

The food on the plates along the four tables began to move. Jelly started wobbling, while different sweets and foods started joining together. Many of the first years were in shock as they watch the food move in the dishes. "What on earth is going on?" a tiny blonde first year on the Hufflepuff table said. The older kids were giving the Marauder's strange looks, knowing it was them who made it happen.

The food started transfiguring into the shapes of many different animals. Miniature otters, dogs, horses, lions and birds covered all the tables.

"Ew gross!" someone from the Slytherin table screamed. The majority of the Slytherin table was covered in maggots. They were crawling all over the place, moving close to people and falling onto their laps. There were however some animals on the table, but not many. The most notable animals were perhaps a duck, labrador dog and a doe.

Lily was absolutely mesmerized by the tiny animals covering the tables. Looking, she noticed that nearly every single animal was different. She laughed at them all running around, and people actually start playing with them. Even on the professor's table, Lily noticed Dumbledore paying close to a phoenix that remained near him and that professor McGonagall had a tabby cat prowling around her hand.

Feeling a nudge on her hand, which was resting on the table, she looked down. Nudging her hand was a beautiful doe. "Awww look at it!" she cooed, "its adorable! Hey Mar, Al, check this out!" The doe kept skipping around Lily's hand playing with it.

"This is amazing!" Marlene said excitedly, "Oh that doe is adorable Lils, but look at this unicorn!"

In front of Marlene was a stunning unicorn. Looking around the group, Lily saw each of her friends were fascinated by the animals in front of them. Alice was holding a fox, Frank was teasing a hound, Sirius was patting a black dog, James was watching a majestic stag in front of him, Remus had a werewolf wandering back and forth in front of him and crawling slowly in front of Peter was a maggot, similar to those on the Slytherin table.

Still playing with the doe in front of her she watched as it moved away from her towards the stag in front of James. Moving with a grace, Lily watched as the doe glided itself next to the stag. The stag lifted its head up high and moved it across the top of the doe's head in an affectionate manner.

"Looks like our little friends like each other," James said.

Looking up at him, Lily saw his hazel eyes looking across at her, bright with the smile on his face. She gave him a smiled back, "yeah."

After about 10 minutes, the animals began to move away from people and back onto the plates where they returned to their original state.

"WOAH THAT WAS FREAKING AMAZING!" Marlene couldn't help but not say, "Easily the best thing by far."  
"Glad you enjoyed it," Peter replied smiling.

"Yeah," James agreed though he seemed a bit puzzled. Turning to Sirius and Remus he mumbled under his breath, "Uh guys? We planned on that, but did it seem a bit different this time, or was that just me?"  
"Yeah I see what you mean Prongs. Moony? What do you think?"  
Remus sat there thoughtfully, "I'm honestly not sure. I mean it turned out well, but maybe with all the people it changed? Let's just leave it. It's exactly what we wanted."

Professor Dumbledore watched as the animals that crawled over all the tables transfigured back into the food. He smiled as he saw all the looks of amazement, particularly on the younger students faces. Whispers filled the room as many of the students complimented the magic. Looking at a group of certain boys on the Gryffindor table, he filled with pride. To know and teach students like the Marauder's gave Dumbledore a great pleasure and it was the reason he remained at Hogwarts. While watching these boys, he saw the confused looks on their faces as they spoke to one another. It had been what they wanted, the idea of the animals on the tables, but he could tell it was not what they were expecting. That something was different this time, and Dumbledore knew exactly what it was…

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**So here are the first four chapters, which I decided to put up at the same time :) Thoughts?**

**Black-Lightningrunes-13 xx**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello! :) So I hope you guys are liking it so far! Enjoy another chapter! xx Black-lightningrunes-13**

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_Chapter 5:_

The train ride home felt like it passed with no time at all. The Marauders, Frank and the girls all sat in the same compartment as all the others had been taken by the time they got to the train. For most of the trip, the marauders and frank slept while the girls non-stop talked. They were discussing their plans for the break, before their final year began.

"Please come stay at mine for a few days," Lily begged Alice and Marlene, "having you guys around will make things bearable with petunia. Plus my parents love you both, they have no issue with it."

"Yeah of course! We'll look after you. Anyway we have to go shopping! Plus it's Alice's birthday in a few weeks! We have to do something then!" Marlene was all for catching up with her best friends.

"You know," Alice began, "we should try and do something with these idiots," nodding her head towards the completely out of it boys.

"Umm why would we do that?" Lily asked. "We never have before,"

"Yeah but that was because we never got a long with them. Admit it. These last couple of weeks have been alright. And with your new changed attitude to James..." Alice trailed off.

"Really Al? I love you but... Oh whatever no matter what I say, you aren't going to listen to me,"

"Nope," both Marlene and Alice told her.

While the girls had been talking, James had woken up, but he remained slumped back in the chair with his eyes closed listening to them. He however could not stop the corners of his mouths lifting when Alice spoke about him and she got all defensive. He knew he had to find out the reason. Still smiling, he drifted back to sleep.

"WAKE UP!" a voice yelled next to James' head.

Opening his eyes, Marlene was standing over him.

"Get your lazy fat arse up James, we're nearly at Kings Cross!"

James groggily moved to position himself in an upright position. He realised he must have fallen back asleep after hearing the girls talk about him. Thinking about it still made him smile. The fact that Lily could finally be getting used to him made him feel great. It had taken him long enough.

"Leave me alone mar!" James heard Sirius complaining. All the rest were all sitting up now, except for Sirius.

"Sirius Black! I swear to god, don't make me hex you to oblivion!"

"Calm down Mar," James told her, "hey Padfoot I've got a couple of chocolate frogs here. Want them?"

"Food?! Hand 'em over!" Sirius shot up at the mention of food. The group all laughed at him, especially the disappointed look on his face when he realised there was no food for him.

"Oh I'm going to kill you prongs!" Sirius tackled James to the carriage floor. The others just watched with amusement. Lily's and Remus' eyes met, they both smiled at each other. Remus s shrugged saying _what can I do? _While Lily just rolled her eyes at the boys but the smiled remained.

When Remus saw this he thought that maybe there really was a chance Lily was coming around to all the Marauders and not just himself. Though he realised this new found friendship was going to be the cause of non stop talk from James the entire break.

The group getting off the train had been a slow process. With students reuniting with their families, the hold up of actually getting off the train increased. Together they moved to a corner away from people so they would be able to say their goodbyes before heading off.

Alice and Frank were the first to leave, they were heading to visit both set of parents together. Before Alice left, she gave Lily and Marlene a massive hug.

"Stay in contact guys. I swear, write everyday! If you don't I'm going to apparate to your houses and kidnap you so I hear every detail of what has been happening. And Lils, if your bitch of a sister gives you a hard time, just turn up at my doorstep I won't mind and neither will the family. We'll see each other soon guys."

Peter was next to follow, leaving shortly after Alice and Frank. He told the others that his parents would be waiting and wouldn't be impressed if he was too late.

"I should probably head off too," Lily told them. Turning to Marlene, she gave her best friend a hug.

"Don't worry Lils, we'll be there for you if things get too bad. You know that right?"  
"Yeah of course I do. I'm really excited on seeing my parents. But my sister, not so much."

"Write to me when you need me. Or seriously just come visit."

"Shall do, bye Mar."

"Bye Lils."

"Um excuse me, but we want to say goodbye as well,"

Laughing, Lily looked up and saw Sirius standing right next to the girls waiting impatiently.

"Come here Lily-flower!"

Moving closer to him, Lily gave Sirius a hug.

"Have a good break Sirius. I would say stay out of trouble, but I know you too well to say that won't happen."

Laughing Sirius replied, "Thanks Lily-flower, but hey I'm always good! See you soon!"

Pulling away Lily said goodbye to Remus giving him a big hug telling him if he needs anything don't be afraid to write.

The last person that Lily had to say goodbye to was James Potter. She didn't want to be mean and not give him a goodbye hug since he had just watched her hug all his friends but she felt weird that she was about to give him a hug. Sure they had been getting along in the last couple of weeks at school. But hating and avoiding the guy for so long and then to all of a sudden be giving him a hug? It felt weird to her. She however remembered when he had helped her off the floor that day in the common room, and how close she had actually been to his body. Maybe this wouldn't be as bad as she thought it would be.

"Uhh, have a good holiday Potter," she said awkwardly as she reached up to put her arms around his neck for a hug. She felt him hesitate for a slight moment, but his arms wrapped around her waist softly pulling her in closer to him. Surprisingly, she did not object to this. Being wrapped in his arms felt comfortable to Lily. She could feel the heat radiating off him, and when she took a breath she was intoxicated by his scent.

Realising the hug was lasting longer than she expected it to Lily released her arms from around his neck.

"Thanks Evans, you too," James said grinning at her, his eyes sparkling.

Ignoring the looks of both astonishment and confusion from Remus, Sirius and Marlene, she said a final goodbye to all of them and picking up her trunk she apparated to her backyard. Straightening herself up, she walked towards her back door. Her heart was racing and she couldn't stop thinking about her arms around James' neck. Wait…What was she thinking? Shaking her head she tried to remove all thoughts of James from her mind. How his arms had felt wrapped around her waist and how he smelt. No, she told herself. She would not think about the arrogant toe-rag like that.

Walking through her backdoor, she called out "Mum? Dad? Petunia? I'm home!"

"Lily! In the kitchen!"

Hearing her mum's voice, she walked through her lounge room around the corner wall into her kitchen.

"Lily, WELCOME HOME!" Her mum pulled her into a tight hug.

"Mum…can't…breath…" Lily struggled to get out.

"Oops, sorry hun," her mum pulled away slightly, "so how has school been? What kind of stuff are you learning? How's Alice and Marlene? Anything interesting happening? Been on any dates?" Her mum asked question after question without taking a breath.

"Woah calm down Mum!" Lil exclaimed taking a step back, "school has been good. We have been learning heaps of different stuff. Charms is still my favourite. I've learnt this really handy spell for making sure people won't over hear me and my friends. Alice and Marlene are still the same, they are really looking forward to coming over and seeing you again. Nothing interesting and NO, NO DATES! You know its not like that!"  
"Aww come on Lils! Any boys then?"

"Mum! No of course not!"

"Ohh there is! Tell me about him! Is he cute"

As her mum was asking her this, Lily couldn't help but not think about James. She knew that he was pretty decent looking, but she would never say that aloud just to allow his big head to increase.

At this time Lily's dad had walked in and joined the mother and daughter.

"Hazel, let Lils settle in before you interrogate her!" moving closer he gave his favourite daughter a hug.

"Thanks Dad! I've missed you!"

"Missed you too sweetheart" David Evans told his daughter.

David and Hazel Evans were the perfect match, they balanced each other out perfectly. Hazel was enthusiastic, talkative and always cheerful. She was the life of a gathering and was loved by everyone. Her straight blond hair fell to her shoulders and both her daughters were a few centimeters taller than her now. David was the opposite. He had a cool nature to himself and would prefer to sit in the corner and read a book. Lily had a mixture of both of her parents in her looks and her personality, but in the most part she was like her dad. Except for the red coloured hair, the long waves that made up her hair came from her dad's side. They were the one thing she absolutely loved about herself. A lot of her personality came from her dad too. Particularly her love of books. Lily was a book worm and would read absolutely everything. Her favourite was probably Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin. It was here her desire to excel in her studies came from, as well as the fact that she was muggleborn and there were those who believed that she was not worth it. From her mum was the fire within her. The outgoingness when she was with her friends and those who knew her, and also the arguments she could start with people, particularly James Potter.

"So how have you guys been?" Lily asked her parents as she returned from putting her stuff in her room and headed into the kitchen to grab herself a cup of coffee. Coffee was Lily's absolute addiction. She couldn't live without it.

"Really good honey. Everything at home has pretty much been the exact same. Oh, Petunia has invited Vernon over tonight for dinner," Lily's mum told her.  
"Wait what? Mum, why? She probably doesn't want to even see me!"

"Lily that's not true!"

"Yes it is."

Turning, Lily saw her sister standing at the top of the staircase looking down on her and her parents.

"Petunia, don't start…" Lily's dad started.

"No dad, let's hear what she wants to say. Go on Pet."

"Don't call me that, freak! I just wanted to get one thing straight with you and I'm glad mum and dad are here to hear me say it. Tonight you are normal. You better be polite to Vernon and if you do any of you freakish things tonight you can forget that I am your sister because I am going to want nothing to do with you."

"You know what fine, _Petunia_, but why in godric's name will I do anything involving magi-"

"Don't you dare say that word!"

"_Magic! _Why do you think I would do anything in front of him?! There is this thing called secrecy! I am not going to go out and tell everyone who I am! I haven't for how many years, WHY WOULD I START NOW?" Lily started telling at her sister.

"I DON'T CARE WHY YOU WOULD OR WOULDN'T! I DON'T WANT ANYTHING TO DO WITH IT AND I DON'T WANT VERNON TO KNOW ABOUT YOU!"

"OF COURSE YOU DON'T! WHAT HAVE YOU EVEN TOLD HIM? DOES HE EVEN KNOW THAT YOU HAVE A SISTER?!"

"OF COURSE HE DOES!"

"FINE, THEN WHAT DOES HE KNOW ABOUT ME?"

"JUST THAT YOU GO TO A BOARDING SCHOOL. NOTHING MORE, NOTHING LESS! THERE WASN'T MUCH I WANTED TO TELL HIM ABOUT YOU!"

"THAT'S IT! GIRLS CALM DOWN!" Hazel yelled before her daughters could continue their fight. She had noticed that as the fight continued Lily had been getting extremely upset with tears forming in her eyes.

Lily couldn't take it any more. When here mum told her and Petunia to calm down, she ran up to her room slamming the door behind her. Lying on the bed, she put her face into her pillow and just screamed. When she had nothing left within her, she didn't get up. She physically couldn't. Instead she turned onto her side, curling into a ball and just cried.

She hated the fact that her and her sister were like this now. It never used to be. Before Hogwarts, before being friends with Sev, they had been inseparable. Now, they couldn't even stand to be in the same room together without yelling at one another, or getting into some argument.

Once the tears stopped coming, she remained lying on her bed. She had no energy or motivation to even want to get up. Yet she knew that she would have to soon as she would be expected downstairs for dinner to meet Vernon. When she heard the doorbell ring she waited about five minutes before heading downstairs.

* * *

When Lily left his arms, James was in absolute shock. When she first moved towards him, his whole body froze, surprised that she would even move that close willingly. He supposed though that she was just being polite, particularly since she hugged the rest of the group.

He watched her apparate away. Staring at the spot that she just disappeared from he thought about the last few moments with Lily Evan in front of him with her arms around his neck. Her hair, which he just loved on her, was so soft against his neck. But not only that, he knew the hug had lasted a bit longer than it probably would have usually. He wondered why that had been? He was finding that since the whole thing with Snivellus, that things between him and Lily were so much better, and even Marlene and Alice had commented on her change of attitude towards him.

"James?" feeling a soft slap across his face, James shook his head shaking all thoughts of Lily away. Looking across, he saw Marlene had moved right next to him.

"Uhh sorry," he told his friends.

"You okay there? Day dreaming about my best friend?"

"Yeah what was that about with Lily-flower? Was it me or did she seem like she was blushing when she apparated away?" Sirius commented.

"No," Remus joined in, "I saw it too."

"Ohh come on guys, leave Lils alone!" Marlene was telling them, even though she knew they were right.

James just stood and listened to his friends, but it was Marlene's tone when she was defending her best friend that made him want to ask what she knew.

"Mar, what do you know?" he asked her.

"I don't know what you are talking about,"

"Sure you don't. Mar we've known each other since forever. You can't lie to me."

"Sure I can."

"Uh no, you can't. So tell me. What is going on with Lily? I heard you and Alice talking about me with her when we were on the train."

"What? You were awake?! You weren't supposed to hear any of that!"

"Um obviously, but since I did…" James trailed off.

"As much as I would love to stay and listen to all of this, I must be off," Remus interrupted James and Marlene, in their one on one discussion.

"Huh," James looked away from Marlene, "of course Moony. Well have a good holiday, but remember, next week you're coming around to mine!"

"Of course Prongs," Remus said as he gave Marlene a hug and slapped Sirius on the back, "I'll see you guys soon," and he apparated away.

"So, Prongs you okay there?" Sirius turned to his best mate.

"Yeah of course I am,"

"Sure doesn't seem like it," Marlene told him with a knowing smile on her face, "seems like a certain best friend of mine has rendered you silent"

"Shut up Mar. Come on guys, let's just go back to mine."

The three of them apparated back to the Potter mansion arriving in the lounge room. Knowing exactly where his mum would be, James lead Marlene and Sirius into the kitchen.

Whenever James arrived home from school, he was always able to find his mum cooking a feast in the kitchen arguing with the house elves, who wanted to help her as much as possible.

"Hi mum! We're home!" James called out as he headed towards the kitchen. Just as expected, Linda Potter was busy moving around the kitchen with a tiny house elf following her around trying to help.

"My children! Welcome home! And you're all here! Perfect. Though I know your parents will want you home soon Marlene. But please stay for a bit."

Linda Potter was a tiny woman, yet a powerful witch. She was a strong willed person who would do anything for those she loved. Her family meant everything to her, and that included Sirius and Marlene who were pretty much her children. She had both auror and healer training but what she loved to do was cook, especially for her family and for any guests.

"Of course Linda! I can always stay here for a bit longer!" Marlene told her.

"So mumma potter, what's for dinner?" Sirius asked.

"Sirius, either mum or Linda is okay. Not mumma potter," she scolded him, though couldn't help but smile a little at his nickname for her, "and you just got in. I'm not telling you what's for dinner."

"Aww come on mumma potter! You know you love me!" Sirius complained but stopped talking when James slapped him across the back of his head.

"God shut up Padfoot."

James moved closer to his mum giving her a hug. She responded, reaching up giving her son a hug. She always missed James when he was away. Even Sirius. It felt great having someone else in the house, and since he moved in officially it would feel odd to not have Sirius in the house. Letting go of her son she moved around him so she could quickly give Marlene a hug and then wrap her other son into her arms.

"Welcome home Sirius."

"Thank you, mum," he said softy, for whenever the Potters called their home his home it always made him feel good. Like he actually belonged. He would always be grateful to them for bringing him into their house.

"Okay, off you go you three, I'm sure you have things to do. James, Sirius, I want you to unpack your trunks and make sure your rooms are clean! Jenni is not going to be cleaning up _your _rooms after you! Plus I need you out of here so I can continue cooking," Linda told the three teens, shooing them out of the kitchen.

"Okay, okay mum! We're going! When's dad going to be home?" James asked right from the kitchen entry.  
"Soon I believe. He said he wanted to be home early to see you two,"

"Okay, well I'll leave you to it then," he said leaving the kitchen.

Both James and Sirius couldn't be bothered yet unpacking their stuff, so they along with Marlene decided that they would just sit in the lounge room that they had apparated into. The three didn't often get to talk as until recently, the three girls would often stay together and Lily, until recently, did whatever she could to stay away from James. As they sat there, they talked about many different things, from the year that passed to the articles in the daily prophet about the deaths of many people, particularly muggleborns and their family's. They then moved on to what their last year at Hogwarts would be like and who the heads would be.

"Moony will get head boy most likely. Out of all the guy prefects in our year, he is by far the best choice. All the others are either snobs, up themselves or complete douchebags," Sirius was saying.

Marlene nodded in agreement, "that's true. And Lils will without a doubt get head girl."

"But they haven't picked two people from the same house as heads in years," James commented, "you know the whole inter-house unity. Which in my opinion is a load of shit, because three out of the four are okay, its just the Slytherins."

"It'll be interesting no matter what who gets it. Plus they have the head common room to share," Marlene said.

"That would be absolutely awkward," James said

"Imagine if you didn't get along well with the other person" Sirius laughed, "so prongs, Lily-flower, huh?"

"What about Lily?" James asked his best mate, knowing exactly where this was going.

"I want details!" whined Sirius.

"There are no details!"

"Lies! All lies!"

"Leave him alone Sirius," Marlene decided to help James a bit, not really wanting to sit there and talk about her best friend.

"Yeah Padfoot, shut up."

"You two suck. There is obviously something more going on. I know for ages we've always joked but come on. It's different lately and there haven't been any arguments. Plus there was the hug! She never hugs you. Willingly!"

James thought about his hug with Lily. It wasn't going to leave his mind. He loved having his arms around her, maybe things would change between them. But maybe he was just being hopeful.

Laughing it off James said, "Yeah I know right? Maybe my amazing charms are finally getting to her,"

"Speak like that James and I'm pretty sure whatever is going through her mind will disappear in a heartbeat," Marlene commented, "that girl is my best friend and I love her to pieces. So I would really love if this newfound ability to be in the same room as you, willingly, remains. It has been awesome being about to spend time will all my friends together. And with that, I'm outta here. My parents will be expecting me home for dinner." Standing Marlene gave the boys a quick hug before heading to the kitchen to say goodbye to Linda.

Sirius watched his best mate after Marlene had left. James had gone silent again, and Sirius knew he was thinking about Lily-flower. There was something going on there, and Sirius really wanted to get to the bottom of it. Though he knew that if forced his friend things wouldn't go down well. Standing up he went to his room to do as Linda had asked him to do. Lying on his bed Sirius was listening to music when James walked in later in the day. James sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Padfoot, I don't know what to do," he started.

Sirius was shocked. He knew James would eventually talk to him, but didn't realised it would be so soon. But before he could reply, James continued, "I know you know I like her. But no one knows how much I really do. I hate that she hates me, that I'm just a big joke to her. I know she's acting differently towards me recently, but what if I'm just being hopeful?"

"Prongs, don't be like that. We've all seen how it's been between you two lately. She just needs to see the guy you really are. The one that looks out for all his friends. The one that is protective of those around him. You know this is true, Moony would agree with me."

"Yeah I know, I know, but I can't help it when I'm around her… Well at least until recently. That night she came into the Great Hall crying, and knowing it had been Snivellus, I walked away from you guys vowing I would be different."

"And you have! If you hadn't, she would be acting all nervous and shit around you!"

"You think she is?"

"Uh yes…In you presence lately dear Lily-flower has spoken to you, blushed and given you a hug willingly. That is definitely a change, considering how many years you guys have spent arguing and she turning you down. Is this why you haven't asked her out in a while?"

"Yeah pretty much. I finally figured that if I stopped asking that she might actually give me a chance."

"Smart move."

"Thanks," James replied dryly.

"You know you really have changed. In a good way too. You'll see Prongs, Lily-flower will come around.

"God I hope so."

A knock came at the door and after Sirius called out to come in, the door opened revealing the tiny house elf Jenni.

"Sirs, Misses has asked me to let you know that dinner is on the table now," the elf bowed her head.

"Thanks Jenni, we'll be right down," James told her.

Walking down to the dining room they found the table was covered in food. Yet again, Linda had out done her self. Sitting at the table was both of James' parents.

James was exactly like his father in both looks and mannerisms. The looks, the scruffy hair that would never flatten and the terrible eyesight therefore requiring glasses were all things James inherited from his father. The only difference was instead of blur eyes, James had hazel eyes which matched his mothers.

Nathaniel Potter was a well known auror, holding one of the higher positions in the ministry. Exactly like his wife, he worried about his family especially with what was happening out in the world at the moment. He knew that his sons were safe at Hogwarts but always worried about them. As they were his sons, he knew what trouble they and the other marauders could get up to.

Standing as he saw the outs enter the kitchen, "Welcome home boys," he said as he gave both a hug, patting them on the backs.

"Sit down and dig in," Linda told her boys.

"How were exams and the rest of the term?" Nathaniel asked them

Both boys had already begun stuffing their mouths with food, so in response they mumbled, "Yeah good."

"No talking with you mouths full!" Linda scolded the boys.

Swallowing quickly, James and Sirius apologized while Nathaniel just laughed at them, well until Linda cut him off with one of her looks. That caused the other two to laugh. Linda just smiled. She missed James and Sirius when they were at school and loved having her family together again.

After the laughter ceased, Nathan asked his sons, "So boys, what spectacular did you do at the final feast?"

Laughing Sirius commented, "Ahh Mr P, you know us so well!"

Rolling his eyes, Nathaniel urged one of them to continue.

"So," James began, "we made it so all the food on the tables transfigured into different animals. It was pretty fun, there was none of the same animal and even some of them payed attention to particular people. Like I have this awesome stag come up to me and Marlene had a unicorn in front of her. Though... It didn't really work how we planned it."

"Oh in what way?" Nathaniel asked curiously. He always loved hearing the pranks they did.

"Well, we had planned that the Slytherin table be covered in miniature snakes, spiders, dragons etcetera all the more dangerous and creepier animals. Instead their table was covered in maggots except for a few animals."

"hmm that's interesting. Well at least those creepy Slytherin's got what they deserve," Nathaniel told his son though he was lost in thought of what he was just told. He knew they practiced their magic before they performed it, so for it to not work like they had planned it surprised him.

The dinner that they had was brilliant. Sirius alone had at least three different helpings and James had gone back for seconds. When they were both full and decided to leave the table Nathaniel stopped them.

"Boys, these holidays, I'm going to be teaching you some offensive and defensive spells. I want and need you both to be prepared for anything."

"Sure of course dad."

With that they left to go find something to do, knowing there was no point to offer clean up as Jenni would be making sure she did it as she had been forced out of the kitchen all day.

* * *

When Lily walked downstairs she found her parents sitting in the lounge room with Petunia and a man that looked like a whale.

"Oh Lily there you are! I was just about to come and get you!" Hazel exclaimed as she spotted Lily, "Vernon, this is Lily, Petunia's younger sister. Lily this is Vernon Dursley," Lily's mum made the quickly introductions. While Lily politely smiled and said, "Hi there. Nice to meet you," she in return only got a nod and a gruff acknowledgement. Raising her eyebrow she moved to the sofa that no one was sitting in. Making herself comfortable she looked at her sister who was already glaring at her.

"Lily darling," her dad began, seeming slightly uncomfortable, "Petunia here was just telling us some wonderful news."

"Oh really?"

"Yes," Petunia cut in, "earlier today Vernon here proposed to me. And I said yes!" as she said this she held up her left hand displaying a large rock on her finger.

"Ah..wow...umm.. I guess congratulations are in order then," Lily said standing up and moving to give her sister a hug. She then offered to shake Vernon's hand, but he declined instead only nodding his head.

When Lily turned. She caught her father's eye and rolled her eyes. He smiled slightly back at her but didn't do anything else knowing he could easily be caught and some time of argument may form.

For the rest of the evening lily was in her own world. She knew she had to stay downstairs with her family or else they wouldn't be happy with her, but she had nothing to contribute to the conversation because Petunia and her mum were talking wedding details or Vernon was bragging about his position in some drill business. Zoning out of the conversation she thought about what she wanted to do over the holidays. The main thing was catching up with Alice and Marlene. She also really wanted to do some shopping in Diagon Alley. Her thoughts wandered to next year, her NEWTs, who would be head girl. She hoped it would be her. It was something she had wanted for years. Finally her thoughts landed on the last couple of weeks of the year and the new found friendship with the marauders. She had always gotten along with Remus, especially since they were prefects together and therefore would patrol together. During those times they would talk about everything and anything. They even had the pact that what is said on their patrols stays on their patrols.

But it wasn't just Remus she was thinking about now. Now there was Sirius, whom had always joked around with her; Peter, who wasn't as quiet as she always thought; then there was James. She had no idea what was going on with him. Lily knew that people could never change over night, it just simply never happened. Yet, in the last couple of weeks she had seen some type of change in the potter that would go around hexing people and find a million different ways to ask her out to a guy who hadn't asked her out, stopped hexing people, was polite and tried to have normal conversations with him. She was actually liking the new James she was seeing, but at the moment she was unable to get herself to say it out loud. Maybe when she meets up with her friends she would talk to them about it.

Lily? Is everything okay?" her mum asked her bringing her out of her thoughts.

"Of course mum."

"Hmm okay, you were quiet most of the evening and since Vernon left you've been quieter"

"Seriously, all is okay. I just didn't have a lot to contribute," she looked around before asking her mum, "Mum? Are you actually okay with Petunia marrying _him_?"

Hazel sighed, "Lils, I saw your reaction to him today and I've told you mine and your fathers opinion. But there is nothing that we can do about it. Honestly if she is happy then so am I. And I want you to take the same approach. Please."

Looking her mum in the eyes, knowing that her parents didn't like see their daughters fight, she agreed, "Sure mum,"

"Thank you sweetheart. You look like you're tired, head up to bed. But tomorrow I want to hear everything about school."

Heading into her room, Lily sat down at her desk. She put her head on her arms and just stared straight forward. She pulled out some parchment and started to write some letters

_Dear Al,_

_I hope everything went really really well with both your parents and Frank's parents (especially his mum, from those stories I've heard!)._

_How are your parents? Say hi for me._

_So my return to home was interesting. Remember all the things I told you that my parents told me about petunias boyfriend? Well it turns out all completely true. I met him tonight and I swear he was all of what my parents described and worse! And guess what? They got engaged! He's actually going to be in the family! Kill me now please?_

_I can't wait till we catch up! Shopping date in Diagon alley? You, me and Mar? And if you want Frank?_

_Talk soon!_

_Lils._

Lily put her quill down and reread her letter. She moved across to Peggie's caged and removed her to attach her letter. Moving to her window she told Peggie to take the letter to Alice. It would be when Peggie returned that she would write a letter to Marlene telling her the news. For now, Lily would sit on her bed and stare at the stars outside until she would eventually fall asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Hi everyone, I hope you all like my story so far! I would love to hear some feedback! :) - Black-lightningrunes-13 x**_  
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* * *

_Chapter 6_

After that first night of returning home from Hogwarts, Lily's holidays had been pretty uneventful. She remained at her house most days either lounging around watching TV or sitting underneath the large tree in her backyard reading. She had written back and forth to Marlene and Alice on numerous occasions both now knowing about Petunia's engagement to the whale. Both her friends had been up to something so far. Marlene had gone away with her family for a bit, while Alice had caught up with frank on numerous occasions. Turns out meeting franks mum hadn't been to bad because she actually liked Alice. Not that Lily ever doubted she wouldn't. Alice was just too lovable!

It was a nice morning outside so Lily was lying underneath the tree with Pride and Prejudice in her hands. On days like this she used to go to the park around the corner but she couldn't. Not anymore. Knowing full well whom she might run into. So instead, she trapped herself at home. She envied her friends because they had been able to get out and do things, whereas she had not. Desperate for a cup of coffee she got up and headed to the kitchen. Walking past the lounge room she spotted her dad sitting on the couch reading the newspaper.

"Hey dad,"

"oh, hi Lils," David said looking up from his paper, "let me guess, coffee?"

"Yup,"

"You know it's really bad how addicted you are,"

"Nah perfectly healthy. And I do believe you gave me my first coffee. So the fault is all yours," sticking out her tongue, Lily got to work of making a coffee.

After she made it, she went and sat down opposite her dad. Curling into a ball on the sofa, she continued to read and drink her coffee. She loved moments like these. When her and her dad could just sit in peace reading, in the open space filled with sunlight from outside.

The doorbell rang, and Lily looked up in surprise. She didn't think they were expecting anyone today. "Dad, are we expecting anyone today?" she asked him.

"Not that I know of. Can you go get it? Your mum and sister are both out at the moment."

"Sure dad"

Lily got up and wandered down the hallway to her front door. She wondered who it could be and she desperately hoped it wasn't one of those annoying people wanting them to sign up for something.

Opening the door she had someone tackle her into a hug screaming, "LILY!"

Smothered by the persons body she was still able to recognize who it was for she could hear someone else's laughter from the other side of the person in front of her. When the person moved away she could finally see her guests. Standing in front of her were Alice and Marlene.

"What are you guys doing here?!" Lily asked as she moved forward to give Alice a hug.  
Smiling Alice told her friend, "Do you think we're idiots? From your letters both of us could tell how bored you were. So we decided we would come visit!"

"Yeah, plus you really need to get out of the house!" Marlene continued, "So here's the plan, we're heading to Diagon Alley, and both of you are coming back to mine!"

"Oh really now? And was anyone going to ask my opinion?" Lily asked them, though smiling at the fact they were both actually there.

"No, now why would we do that?" Marlene asked innocently.

Shaking her head Lily invited them both inside.  
"Dad, look who stopped by," she said as she reached the lounge room.

"Girls, Hi! I didn't realised you were coming,"

"Yeah, it was a surprise for Lils here," Alice said as she gave David a hug.

"Dad, these two idiots here, have asked if I wanted to go shopping in Diagon Alley with them and then go stay at Marlene's place. Is that okay?"

"Of course it is! It will be good to get you out of the house. All you've done is either sat in here watching TV or reading, drinking coffee!" At this both Alice and Marlene smirked at Lily.

"Thanks Dad!"

"Sure no problem kiddo. How long will you be gone for?"

"Uhh no clue, Marlene?" she asked looking at her friend.

"As long as you want! My parents don't mind at all. At least stay for two."

"Awesome. Dad that okay?"

"Sure, Lils, just write a note for your mum and leave it on the kitchen bench. Knowing me I'll forget and your mum will kill both of us."

Lily laughed, "Don't worry Dad, I'm already one step ahead of you."

This was true. Once her dad had agreed, Lily had moved into the kitchen and began writing a note to leave for her mum. It read:

_Mum,_

_Alice and Marlene stopped by to surprise me. _

_We've headed into Diagon Alley to do some shopping and Marlene has invited me to stay at hers for at least two nights. Might be longer but if I am, I'll come home and let you know._

_Love you lots and if you need me, owl me. Peggie is upstairs._

_Lily_

_xx _

The three girls were up in Lil's room as she rummaged through her clothing to pack stuff for staying at Marlene's but also to find a cute outfit to wear into Diagon Alley. She also was looking for the handbag she wanted to take. It was a medium sized black shoulder back with two pockets on the outside. Not that any of this mattered, since the bag itself had an Undetectable Extension Charm on it allowing Lily to put as much as she required into it.

As Lily moved around her room like crazy, Alice and Marlene parked themselves onto Lily's bed and kept the conversation going between the three of them.

"So Lily, you said you wanted to go to Diagon Alley. Any particular reason?" Alice asked her.

"Not really, there are a few books I'm interested in picking up, and I'm really craving some butterbeer. But other than that I just figured we could look around."

"Sure okay, I'm in need of quills and parchment as well. I know its early to get it, but its only a few weeks before we head back to school and I would prefer to get most stuff before the mad rush of all students," Alice told them.

"Why am I friends with such nerds?" Marlene asked jokingly, "I agree with the butterbeer idea though!"

"Nearly done guys," Lily said as she put her bag on the bed, "does this look okay?"

"Woah Lily you look gorgeous!" Alice exclaimed.

Looking at Lily, she was wearing a pair of dark blue straight leg jeans that hugged her, with a black singlet and a loose knitted jumper on top. It was simple but it was perfect for Lily. She had tied her long wavy hair into a loose ponytail and stuck some eye make up on.

"Damn girl! How is it that you can have such a simple outfit and look amazing?" Marlene commented to Lily.

"Thanks guys. Okay let's head downstairs. I'll say goodbye to my dad and we can go. Apparate straight into the Leaky Cauldron?" Lily asked.

"Yeah that's probably easiest"

* * *

~~~/~~~

Heading down for breakfast James found that he was the last one down there. Already sitting at the table was both his parents and Sirius. This surprised him on two occasions. The first was that Sirius was actually up before him and the second being that both his parents were still at home.

"Uhh hi everyone," he announced himself.

"Oh look who it is! Sleepy head is finally awake!" Sirius laughed.

"Oi you can't talk. Pretty sure that in the past six years we have either shared the same dorm or you stayed at my place, I have woken up before you!"  
"Yes, but not today. Hence, I can call you sleepy head!"

"Doesn't work like that!"

"Sure it does!"

"Boys!" Linda interrupted them, "Quiet, please."

"Sorry mum," they replied sheepishly.

"So why are you both still here?" James asked as he sat down, grabbing some pancakes off the plate in front of him.

"Well, we decided to take the day off work to spend it with both of you. It's not often we get to do it anymore," Nathaniel told his son.

"Oh really? Awesome!" Sirius exclaimed.

"So what are we going to do?" James asked, also looking forward to spending some time with his family.

"Well we thought that we could sped some time here this morning. Perhaps have a picnic for lunch in the gardens? But head into Diagon Alley later to do some shopping and go to the leaky cauldron." Linda told the boys.

"That sounds like a great plan mum," James told her, "but first lets play some exploding snap!"

"Oh you're on Prongs!"

Linda just laughed at her sons, "Fine, but not near anything good! I will personally kill you of something gets destroyed."

The four spent a few hours playing different games including exploding snap, but eventually stopped when Linda and Nathaniel needed to break up the boys from getting into an all out war. Not that they weren't already in one, it was more Linda was worried about some of her pieces of furniture and the carpet beneath them.

"So lunch?" Sirius asked once he and James had to clean up their messes.

"Always thinking about your stomach Padfoot," James said shaking his head mockingly while hitting Sirius on the stomach.

"You wanna start something?" Sirius dived onto James. They began rolling along the floor, hitting each other and messing up each other's hair.

"Oi! Not the hair!" Sirius yelled.

Linda went to stop the 'fight' but she felt a hand on her arm. Looking up at her husband she smiled.

"Leave them," he told her, "let's go get the food for lunch."

Together, hand in hand, they walked to the kitchen to help Jenni get some food together.

When Sirius and James eventually stopped they looked around and found that they were alone. Smiling at each other they said at the same time, "that's all your fault!"

Both just cracked up laughing. After about five minutes of laughing, they stood to go find Linda and Nathaniel. Knowing to head tithe kitchen James and Sirius the whole way kept shoving and laughing so eventually they stumbled their way through the kitchen doorway.

Sitting behind the counter with a cup of coffee in their hands watching the boys was Linda. She just smiled and shook her head.

"Come on you two. Your dad is outside setting things up."

The three walked outside together to see that Nathaniel had a picnic blanket on the ground with plenty of food in it.

"You know," James began, "you would think you were trying to fatten us up."

Nathaniel just laughed, "I don't think that's possible. The amount that you two eat and still look the way you do. I dot know how you do it!"

Sirius and James snuck a quick look and smiled, then Sirius responded, "Well we have to stay fit for quidditch!"

It was roughly around two when Linda said that they should head to Diagon Alley. Calling Jenni out to clean the mess, the four of them apparated into the Leaky Cauldron.

"So what are we doing first?" James asked

"Let's go looking around first and we'll come back here later," Linda told them before heading out into Diagon Alley. On her way past she acknowledged Tom the barkeeper.

The three boys, or really men, looked at each other and just shrugged smiling. They knew it was best to do as Linda said and follow her.

They went through different shops, picking up some quills at Amanuensis Quills, and James and Sirius dragged Linda and Nathaniel into Broomstix to check out the latest dragon skin protection gear as well as the newest Cleans weep broom.

Eventually Linda had to literally drag the boys away from the shop and all the way to Eeylops Owl Emporium.

"Umm mum, what are we doing here?" James asked.

"Well your father and I have spoken and we have decided to buy Sirius his own owl."

"Wait what?!" Sirius was surprised.

"Well why wouldn't we dear?" Linda addressed him, "it's only fair. James has Apollo and Nathan and I share Diego, so we thought it was time you ha your own instead of borrowing ours."

"Aww you guys seriously don't have to!"

"Of course we don't son," Nathan said, "but we want to."

Sirius jumped onto both Nathan and Linda giving, wrapping his arms around both of them.

"Thanks so much guys!"

Linda just laughed, "Any time Sirius. Now go. Pick an owl."

Sirius went into the shop, with James close behind him. There were owls everywhere. Some were resting while others were flying above. They went to every corner of the shop just scanning seeing if there were any that caught his eye. While James looked around he didn't really spot any that could match up to his owl Apollo. Apollo had been James' gift just before he went to Hogwarts. He was more than just a pet who delivered mail. He was also a friend and would keep him company when he needed it.

It didn't take long for Sirius to pick out an owl. Though in a way this owl had picked him. The tawny owl had flew over and perched itself on Sirius' shoulder.

"Hey Prongs! Check this out!"

James turned to find Sirius beaming at him with an owl on his shoulder.

"How the hell did you manage that?" James asked him

"I swear I didn't do anything! It just landed on me!"

"Let me guess, that's the one you want?"

"Hells yeah!"

James just shook his head, "Alright then. My parents are just over there. Let's go."

"So what are you naming him?" Linda asked as they left the shop.

"Hmm," Sirius pondered, "I'm thinking Maximilian. Or just Max for short,"

"That's a good name!" Linda remarked.

Sirius was nodding, about to respond to Linda when something caught his eye down the street.

"Oh no way!" He said to himself before saying aloud, "hold on one second," before walking down the alley.

"Lily-flower!" he called out.

* * *

~~~/~~~

Lily, Alice and Marlene were walking down Diagon Alley when all of a sudden Lily heard, "Lily-flower!"

She stopped walking, because she wasn't really sure of he had had ears anything or not.

"what's wrong?" Alice asked noticing her friend had stopped.

"I swear I just heard - oh no," she started as she looked around her. Looking behind she saw Sirius black walking down the street towards them.

"What? Ohhh," Alice said noticing who was coming towards them.

"Black!" Marlene exclaimed as she saw him. She moved towards him to give him a hug.

"Uh what's with the owl?" Lily asked, finally getting over the shock that he was there and noticing what he was holding.

"A gift!"

"Who the hell would be stupid enough to give you an owl, meaning you would actually have to look after something," Marlene joked.

"That would be us Marlene."

"Linda! Nathan! Hi there!" Marlene exclaimed as she spotted them walking towards their group.

"Uh mar, who are they?" Lily asked under her breath."

"You'll see," she responded before embracing Linda and Nathan.

Alice and lily stood back and watched the exchanges take place. They wondered how Marlene knew these people and why Sirius had the biggest grin on his face while he kept cutting looks at lily. She kept sending questioning looks at him until she noticed another person join the group. Standing behind the couple that Marlene was embracing was James Potter. She just stood there shocked, not knowing what to say.

"Hi there," he said smiling at them. He couldn't take his eyes off Lily. She looked gorgeous. Even though he thought she was always beautiful, there was something about her today that just took his breath away.

"James, care to make introductions," Linda interrupted his thoughts.

"Huh? Oh right. Mum, Dad this is Alice Prewitt and Lily Evans. Alice, Evans these are my parents."

Lily just stood there. These were James Potter's parents? Oh god this is really weird. She heard Alice say, "Hi there its really nice to meet you. I'm Alice," which brought her out of her thoughts. "Umm hi. I'm Lily. It's nice to meet you," she said softly and nervously but still put her out her hand.

"It's very nice to meet you both," Mrs Potter said shaking her hand, "please call me Linda and this is Nathan. We've heard so much about you." Lily blushed when she heard this.

"Mum!" James complained while Sirius and Marlene just laughed. Even Alice had a smile on her face.

"What it's true?" Linda commented with a smile on her face.

"Stop it darling, you're embarrassing them," Nathan said laughing. James' face had gone bright red and so had Lily's.

Sirius couldn't help himself. He was laughing so hard at both James and Lily, "Look at you both! You've gone bright red!"

"Shut up Black!"

"Shut up Padfoot!

They both yelled at the exact same time, which made Sirius crack up laughing even more.

To change the subject Alice asked, "So what brings you guys here?"

"Well we thought we would spend the day together. With Nathan and I always at work there isn't a lot of time we can all spend together," Linda replied.

"Aw that's really sweet!" Alice cooed.

"Yeah," Linda smiled, "what about you three?"

"Yes, what brings you three lovely ladies here?" Sirius asked finally stopping his laughter, "especially with Lily-flower looking so beautiful!"

The blood that had left Lily's cheeks began to rise again as Sirius complimented her.

"Sirius!" Linda scolded, while the others laughed, "leave the poor girl alone!"

Marlene who was used to the present company finally answered the question to get the attention off of Lily, "Well we thought we would do a girls outing. Lily hadn't gotten out of her house so Alice and I decided to make a surprise visit. They're both staying at mine tonight."

"That sounds lovely," Linda said smiling, "how about you join us for dinner? We were planning on either the leaky cauldron or heading back to our house."

"That would be great!" Marlene responded, after she looked at Lily and Alice for confirmation. Both had just nodded, Lily a little less enthusiastically.

"Linda, perhaps we should leave the kids for a bit," Nathan suggested, "I'm sure the five of them don't want to be accompanied by us oldies all afternoon."

"That's true. Okay James," she said turning to him, "let's say meet back here in maybe 2 hours. We'll figure out what we shall do then."

James just nodded in response.

"And Marlene, we'll let your parents know the three of you are with us, so they don't get worried."

"Thanks Linda!"

Hand in hand they watched as Linda and Nathan walked away.

"James! I love your parents!" Alice said enthusiastically when they had been a distance away.

James laughed, "Thanks Al, they are pretty great aren't they? So what did we want to do?"

Marlene and Sirius just looked at each other before turning to the others as saying, "Ice Cream!"

It was decided then that they would head to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour and sit there to catch up with one another.

James just sat there and listened. They all talked about various things, especially what they had already done on the break. He himself had contributed but had mainly let Sirius and Marlene keep up all the talking. Lily had also been as quiet as him, he had been watching her fidget with her napkin while they all spoke. He was thinking about something he could say thy would bring her into the conversation more when Marlene turned and said, "hey Lils, how are things going? With your sister and the big plans?"

_What was Marlene talking about? Lily has a sister?_

James watched as Lily gave Marlene an annoyed looked before knowing she would have to respond as she was being looked at by everyone who were waiting for an answer.

"Yeah, they're okay. Not a lot has been planned though. Thank god. But the whale is always there and Petunia keeps reminding me not to be a 'freak'," she responded.

James was really confused now. What did she mean by _not to be a freak_?

"Would someone care to explain?" Sirius inquired, as James was not the only one out of the loop, but James knew better than to inquire into Lily's life.

Lily just rolled her eyes, "My sister got engaged to this whale called Vernon Dursley."

"You have a sister?"

_Well at least I'm not the only one who didn't know, _James thought.

"Yeah I do, she's older and obviously non-magical,"

"Oh wow. So what's with the reminder to not be a freak?"

"Well me and her used to be really close. At least until I found out I was a witch. Now, to her, I'm just a freak because I can perform magic"

"What the hell?!" James exploded.

Everyone just looked at him in shock. No one was expecting the outburst.

"Wha-" James began, before he was cut off by a high pitched squeal.

The group spun immediately to see a large group of people walking down the alley. They were quite a distance around but it was clear that they were wearing black cloaks and masks. But what had made people scream were the bodies of people dangling in the air, hanging by their ankles.

"What the -" James started.

Lily watched as they moved around but turning back to the direction she was originally looking to see there were more figures walking down from the other direction.

"Uh guys, there are more," she had been the one who had interrupted James.

Around the group, mothers had begun to hide their children while some of the older wizards and witches stepped forward with their wands raised. As soon as these people had, they were on the ground withering in pain. Their screams filled the streets, causing more people to step away. Even from the distance Lily could hear a certain curse she never thought she would hear, the words of the cruciatus curse.

"What on earth are we supposed to do?" Marlene muttered under her breath.

"What can we do?" Alice responded.

"We need to do something!" Sirius exclaimed.

All of a sudden fires began blazing around them.

"Oh shit!" James said frantically, "it's fiendfyre! We are stuck right in the middle of this and there are kids and families everywhere. Look where we are!"

James was right. Since they were sitting outside an ice cream parlour all around them were kids. Those who had been outside had ducked underneath their table, while looking inside many were doing the same. Some of the groups surrounding them had no adult supervision and were kids of 10 maybe 11 years old. Moving quickly he went to them.

"Shh, it's going to be okay. Just going inside with the rest of the people and stay down. Do you know where your parents are?" he asked them.

One of the boys nodded, "yeah they went to buy robes and were going to meet us back here,"

James nodded, "okay, then just stay here. I assume you're in charge of this lot?"

"Yeah, they're my family,"

"Okay, then please just do what I say and go inside quickly."

James ushered them in before looking around. Alice, Lily, Marlene and Sirius had all risen and held their wands in their hands. Standing as a group they looked out at the scene around them. The fire had spread onto the buildings surrounding where it had begun and the figures that were covered had too spread out blocking anyone from fleeing the alley. People could still disapparate away, as no anti-disapparition jinx had been put into place, but with children and families separated as they had done their shopping many would not leave.

Cries and screams of terror filled Lily's ears as she looked out at the scene around her. She was scared right down to her core, but she had to do something, anything to help the people around her. To help the children around her! These figures, whoever they were had something seriously wrong with them.

"Guys we have to try and stay together, who knows what could happen if we get separated," she told them.

"Evans is right, we protect each other," James agreed.

"So do we have a plan or what?" Sirius asked.

They stood silently trying to come up with something in the short amount of time they had before the people were right next to them.

"Okay, here's what we do…" James started.


	7. Chapter 7

**So I would just like to say to those who have followed or favourited my story, THANK YOU SO MUCH! I LOVE YOU ALL! Seriously getting all those emails letting me know made me happy :) It gives me the motivation to keep writing. So here for you all is the next chapter. Let me know what you think. Please! :) **

**I have also decided to change the rating to M. This will be for future content. **

**xx Black-lightningrunes-13**

* * *

_Chapter 7:_

Lily knew what James was saying was correct in the fact that they would have to fight these people. But it was crazy! They were using the cruciatus curse and were hanging bodies from their ankles! There had been rumours spreading around about some Lord Voldemort and that he was collecting followers. They were killing people, or torturing them, especially the muggleborns. In her mind that was what was scaring Lily, she knew she was a strong witch, probably the best in her year, yet her blood status put her down. If these people were the followers of this Lord Voldemort, they would have to be careful.

Listening to James was the right idea, is plan was fairly straightforward.

"So we need to find some things that will provide cover, and we stay behind them when we aren't casting spells. Three of us face one way, two the other. That was there aren't any surprise attacks from behind," James was saying. Hopefully some others will help us then, Lily thought. She figured the more people there were fighting the greater the chance they had.

"So what are we going to use for cover?" Marlene asked.

Lily looked around as she had been wondering the same question. "Honestly whatever we can," James replied looking around as well, "let's just use these tables."

For them it had been like time had stood still as they moved the tables and prepared themselves. On the side of the street, just a bit away from the windows of the ice cream parlour, they had set up the tables in a box around them. The good thing about this were they were quite wide meaning they would be able to duck behind them. Inside their box Sirius, Lily and Alice faced one way while James and Marlene had their backs to them.

"Ready?" James whispered, "on the count of three. One…two…three!"

* * *

**~~~/~~~**

* * *

"Did you see how nervous he was?" Nathan laughed as he remembered the look on his sons face. Linda laughed along with him.

"She seems like such a sweet girl and she's so pretty! No wonder James always talks about her!" Linda commented.

Nathan smiled at Linda's affection for the girl that their son liked so much. Though thinking back on the meeting, he recalled Lily's reaction when James had appeared.

"Linda, do you think she might like him too?" he asked wanting to see if someone else saw what he saw.

"Well, James, well I think it was Sirius, did say that there aren't as many arguments between the two."  
"But even today, she seemed really nervous when he appeared and couldn't stop looking at him."

"Actually, you're right. I just put it off as the girl being shy."

"I think it was a bit of both,"

"Well, hopefully she'll see all the good in our son. I understand why after all these years he-"

Linda stopped talking as she heard a loud scream coming from somewhere close by.

"Did you hear that?" She asked.

"Yes, let's go," Nathan said as he grabbed Linda's hand pulling her in the direction they heard the scream come from.

They didn't have to walk far. Following the smoke of the fiendfyre, they quickly saw what was going on. They found themselves standing behind a group of people covered in cloaks, but in front of these people were bodies hanging by their ankles. In the moments they saw the people, they watched as some began to take a stand but found themselves writhing in pain on the floor.

Nathan went into auror mode straight away, "_Impedimenta_!" he cast his jinx. It hit his target who fell to the ground. This however caused those at the back to turn around and cast some spells backwards. A green light flew past them, but hadn't been near enough to hit anyone.

Linda herself started casting some jinx's, "_Stupefy" _she yelled also hitting her target.

"What about the kids?" She asked Nathan while they ducked for cover.

"They'll be fine! If they are anywhere near this they know how to protect themselves." Nathan responded quickly put a comforting hand on his wife's shoulder, just for a brief moment.

* * *

**~~~/~~~**

* * *

When they heard James yell, "three!" everyone rose from their cover and yelled some jinx's.

_Stupefy!_

_Petrificus Totalus!_

_Impedimenta!_

_Expelliarmus! _

The figures had been caught off guard. After taking down those first few who had opposed then, they thought they had sent their message for all others to not get in the way.

After casting their first spells, Lily and the others used the tables as a protection. They also protected each other as they worked as a team. At most times if someone was standing to cast a spell, someone was always casting _protego_ for protection. All five of them worked well together, in a way coordinating their every move.

With their attack, the five teenagers had somehow stopped the figures from moving closer.

Lily was having trouble breathing. The fire was still burning, and the smoke around them was thick. Her eyes watered but she knew she couldn't stop. She was just hoping that some sort of help would arrive soon.

While casting _protego_ for James, Marlene noticed that from her side those she was fighting were being attacked from the other side.  
"James! Look! The other side!"

Through the smoke, James squinted his eyes. He saw that the group was in a similar position to him and his friends, that there were people on the other side. He sighed, glad that they had some sort of help. Realizing it could be his parents as he knew they wouldn't back from a fight and would be worried about him, he fought even harder. He knew that he had to protect everyone around him.

From behind him he heard a smash.  
"POTTER! DUCK!" he heard someone yell. He did so as one spell flew over his head and another crashed into a shield someone had cast behind him.

In a quick flash, James half spun so that he could see both sides of the alley. It was Lily that had cast _protego_ behind him. "Thanks," he yelled.  
"Yeah, no problem, but I'd say we're in need of help here."

She was right. As well as they had been doing there were still more of them and the smoke everywhere wasn't helping anyone. The tables that they had used for protection were in pieces and were no good.

"At least others are helping!" Marlene yelled atop the noise. A few witches and wizards had joined the fight once they saw the five teens put up a fight, though many had stayed with their children to protect them.

_Maxima bombarda_!

"DUCK!" Sirius yelled as soon as he realised what was going to happen,  
pulling Alice and Lily with him. James who also picked up what was happening pulled Marlene to the floor with him.

As they hit the floor, an explosion occurred around them. Bricks and rubble flew around them. Dust filled their eyes and their lungs.

"Ow!" Lily said as she tried to stand back up, "Oh crap." Lily looked down at herself. Not only was she covered in the dirt and rubble from the explosion she had blood all over her from both small cuts. Her leg had blood streaked down it from a large scrape that went from her knee down half her shin. But not only that her left wrist had twisted at an odd angle. She tried to lift herself off the ground but it hurt for her to put any pressure on her leg. She fell back down.

The others around her were all moving and getting up. Each had similar scrapes on their bodies.

"Come on guys, we need to move!" James ordered, knowing they needed to move out of the way, "let's go. Evans you okay?" he asked as he spotted we on the ground still struggling.  
"Uh I can't move," she replied.  
Sirius who was closer to her saw her leg, "Oh shit. Ouch. Prongs help me get her up."

James rushed over and with the help of Sirius carefully but quickly pulled lily off the ground. Lily tried not to yell out in pain. Her leg was killing her. Biting down on her lip she was lifted up by the two boys.

"Where are we heading?" Sirius asked James as they got Lily up. The others were casting _protego_ from any spells that came near. James looked around not really knowing how to answer.

**Crack!**

"Let's move it people! Constant Vigilance!"

Figures had appeared in amongst the smoke. From what James could see about five people had appeared near them, but it was who had spoken that told James that the people were there to help.

It was Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody, well known auror. He was actually a friend of the Potter's and has known James since he was little.

While four people went off to help those fighting, Mad-Eye spotted James and moved over to the group, "Younger Potter! What are you doing?"  
"Mad-Eye! Thank god! " James exclaimed seeing the familiar face. Looking around James saw the others were confused but knew not to bother with introductions now.  
"We need to move Evans here to cover," James told Mad-Eye.  
"You're safe now lad. Move to cover we'll take care of this," and with that Mad-Eye moved to help the others.

"Alright let's move back to the ice cream parlour. Alice and Mar can you guys keep watch as we move, protect us?"  
"Of course" they both replied.

Slowly moving, they made their way back to the shop. Lily grimaced with every step that she took on her leg. It was hurting her so much, but she didn't want to tell them. She just wanted them to get inside quickly. When they got inside someone pushed a chair close to Lily, and Sirius and James carefully put her into it.

Relieved to be sitting down, and off her leg, Lily rested into it, leaning her head back and closing her eyes.

"Lily, you okay?"  
"mmmhmm," she responded to whoever asked her. She wasn't really paying attention to what was happening anymore.  
"Okay then," the same voice said, "I'm going back out, help Mad-Eye and the other aurors if I can."  
"James, be careful," one of the girls, Marlene most likely, said to him.

Lily heard the footsteps of someone moving away from her. Then she realised. It was James who had asked her whether or not she was okay. He had said her name. _Lily_. He had never said her name before; at least she had never heard it. It was only ever Evans for her and she would call him Potter. What surprised her the most though was how much she liked hearing her name from him. It had sounded so natural.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

James was careful as he left the shop. He wasn't sure what to expect but he saw straight away that things were better, or at least going in their way. A couple more aurors had appeared and were escorting some of the people away. Though many had disappeared. Black smoke still filled the air but the fire had died down or stopped by someone. The site was terrible. Not too far away, James could see bodies lying on the floor. He just hoped they weren't all dead.

"James!" a worried voice called out.  
Turning, James saw that both his parents were rushing towards him. As his mum reached him, she pulled him into her arms holding him close.  
"I was so worried about you!" she said, muffled as her head was buried into him.  
"I'm glad you're okay son," Nathan told his son putting his hand on James' shoulder.  
"Same for you guys."  
"Where are the others James?" Linda asked him, worried that she could only see her son.  
"Don't worry. They're fine. They are in the ice cream Parlour. Lily is hurt though."  
"Oh no, how bad is she?"  
"Itt could be worse, but she has a massive scrape down her leg that she can barely even walk on and she twisted her wrist at a weird angle. Sirius and I had to hold her up so she could walk"  
"We'll have a look at it for her. Now Alastor told us you were in the middle of the fight when he arrived..." Linda began wanting to hear from her son what happened.  
"Yeah, how about we go back and I'll tell you everything. But I have to ask, were they death eaters?"

Nathan and Linda looked each other in the eye before Nathan responded, "Yes son, they were."

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

Together James and his parents walked back to the ice cream parlour. Sirius, Marleme and Alice had pulled up chairs around where they placed Lily and were comparing some on their scrapes on their arms. "I'm blaming this on you Sirius!" Alice was saying to Sirius when they walked in.  
"Come on! I saved your life! If it wasn't for me you would have gotten hit by more if I hadn't pulled you down!"  
"Yeah, yeah. Fine. Thank you" she said to him. Though they were joking around, trying to make things seem better than they actually were, she really did mean it when she said thanks to him.

"James!" Marlene exclaimed as she spotted him walking it.  
"Hey guys. How's Lily going?" he asked nodding in her direction. She was still leaning back on the chair with her eyes closed.  
"I'm fine. Leg and wrist just hurt. Is everything okay out there?" she asked as she blinked her eyes open.

"Everything's fine now, dear. Let's have a look at you," Linda answered her as she moved closer, "Oh ouch! How did it happen?"  
"Sirius pulled me down so I must have hit something and landed awkwardly."  
"Don't worry dear, it'll be okay. I can do a bit of work here for you? If you want me to, but it will not be perfect.

"That's fine," Lily replied with a small smile, "it would be great if you did something."

Smiling back, Linda got to work.

"Marlene, we got in contact with your parents. They know something happened and although they know you're with us, they wish the three of you to go home to them. They are a bit worried." Nathan said turning to Marlene as Linda worked her magic on Lily's leg.

"Oh god they're going to be freaking out," she said putting her hands to her face covering it.

Nathan just smiled at her reaction, "Don't worry. They aren't too bad anymore. But let's just say you three might be confined to the house for the next few days," he told her laughing.

"Thank you for your sympathy..." she replied dryly.

"Oh don't worry, you won't be the only ones," he said looking at James and Sirius.

"Wait! What?" They both exclaimed at the same time.

"Dad! No fair!" James complained.

"James, your father is right. Just for the next few days. For us?"

"But ma... Okay. We'll stay in, promise," he told her once he saw the expression on her face.

When she had spoken she had just finished working on Lily's leg and wrist, and she had looked up at her son. When James looked into her eyes he saw her concern and how much she had been worried.

Alice and Lily watched the exchange. Alice knew James had this side to him, but seeing it with his parents was completely different. She glanced across at Lily. To anybody else, Lily wouldn't have looked like she was shocked, but Alice could see the small things. Lily's emerald green eyes were just that little bit wider and we head was slightly tilted. Alice smiled at this. _hopefully things will continue changing for the better,_ she thought.

"I honestly hate to say this but I'm really tired, and Marlene your parents will be expecting us shortly or else they will send out a search party," Alice said.

Linda smiled, "Of course. Carl and Judy are probably extremely anxious right not. Lily, dear, is that better?"

Lily slowly moved her leg. There was still some pain there but a significantly less amount. It was better also that Mrs Potter - well Linda, she corrected herself - had cleaned the wound.

"It is, the pain has decreased heaps. Still a bit there but it feels so much better now. Thank you so much!" Lily responded.

She stood slowly, gently putting her foot on the ground to apply pressure. Taking a few steps she found she was able to walk with a bit of a limp as she avoided moving her knee.

Her wrist was pretty much back to perfect as well.

"James, Sirius, your father and I have to stay behind and help with the mess here. Alastor has already spoken to us and Patricia Jennings spotted us as well. You guys can either head home or stay here and help," Linda addressed her sons.

James and Sirius looked at each other before both saying, "We'll help."

Linda knew that was going to be their answer, "Of course. Your father and I will be outside. Just come find us or Alastor when you're ready."

She then turned to the three girls, "Marlene like always please come and visit. I miss seeing your gorgeous face around. And Alice and Lily it was a pleasure to meet you both, even though the day was not what was expected. I look forward to seeing you again, perhaps you could come around to the house one time?" As she was saying this she stepped forward giving all the girls a hug.

"Thank you Mrs Po- Linda," Lily began correcting herself as Linda gave her a look," it was very nice to meet you too and thank you do much for your help."

Nathan stepped forward and also gave the three girls a hug and said goodbye before they left the shop together.

"Well today was an interesting day," Sirius said breaking the silence.

"That's for sure," Marlene commented, "god we should go guys, mum and dad are going to be freaking out as we speak."

Stepping towards the boys she gave them both a hug and a kiss on the cheek, "Behave you two! I'll see you soon."

"I'm just glad everyone is in one piece. Sure some injuries, but things could have been much worse," Alice said as she too stepped forward to say goodbye to the boys.

"Lily-flower's Turn!" Sirius exclaimed before moving towards her and grabbing her into a hug. He had lifted her off the ground, so when he was putting her back down he had to be extremely careful. "I'm glad you're okay Lils. Sorry I hurt you," Sirius whispered as he held Lily close.

"Don't worry Sirius. It's not that bad. And you probably save my life. So thank you," she whispered back so only he could hear.

They smiled at each other before Sirius stepped away and James too moved closer.

"Take care of yourself Evans," James said with a smile before pulling her into a hug. Lily was stuff at first but she relaxed into his arms. In the back of her mind she realised he called her Evans again instead of Lily. And it was there that she felt that tiny bit of disappointment. She had liked hearing her name come from his lips. The embrace was then also too short and was over too soon for Lily. As she moved out of James', arms she said, "I will Potter, you too."

"Alright time to go!" Marlene quickly said, "see you two soon!" she said before disapparating. Lily and Alice both said a final goodbye before they too left the James and Sirius standing in the shop.


	8. Chapter 8

**Hi everyone :) **

**thank you all for reading! I hope you are all enjoying it so far :) **

**I would like to thank ****_Kalingabop _****and ****_Violet Belikova_****, for letting me know about some mistakes I had in the earlier chapters. I've gone and fixed them up. Also to _'Guest' _who made a review - I'm glad you are loving it so far, and here is some more for you!**

**Please enjoy and review! I would love to hear some opinions. Their final year at Hogwarts is about to being!**

**- Black-lightningrunes-13 xx**

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

_Chapter 8:_

It had been a couple of weeks since the incident in Diagon Alley. In the final week of holidays, before it was time to return to Hogwarts, Lily decided she would remain at home and spend some time with her family. Plus her parents didn't want her going out much at the moment. When she had returned home after her few days with Marlene and Alice, Lily still had all the scrapes and bruised, and she still had a slight limp. Naturally, her parents had freaked out. She remembered when she sat them and told them about what had happened as well as what was happening in the wizarding world.

_It was the morning after Lily had returned home. She had slept in a bit, but both her parents had the day off work. When she slowly made her way to the kitchen she found both her parents eating breakfast. Heading straight to the coffee she said, "morning" through a yawn.  
"Morning sweetheart,"  
"Um so I think we should talk..." Lily begun.  
"Oh, thank god," David sighed, "we thought we were going to have to ask you."  
"No. This is important to know," she said as she sat down with them.  
"The other day, there was an attack in Diagon Alley. That's where I was. My friends and I, we had to protect those around us so no one would get hurt. Especially the kids – we were at an ice cream parlour at the time. So we fought. That's why I'm like this. You know James? The annoying one I've told you about? Well his mum healed me a bit. Don't worry I'm fine! And I was okay! Just a scrape..." Lily took a breath. Her parents were just staring at her blankly.  
"But why? Why did this happen?" David broke the silence.  
Taking a breath, Lily answered her father, "There's a lot of bad stuff happening in my world at the moment. There is an evil man calling himself 'Lord Voldemort' who is gaining followers and doing some had things. Killing people and what not. It was his followers the other day. Death eaters they are called. Please don't worry about me. Okay? I'll be safe especially within the walls of school. But I'm telling you this because I need you to be careful. People like me, from magical families, they are being targeted, and I need you guys to be safe. The other day I had to fight. I had to stand by my friends and protect those around me. These people, what they are doing is wrong."_

Hazel and David looked at each other. Hazel stood from her chair and gave Lily a hug, "Lils I am so proud of you. For standing up for what you believe in. We'll be careful but you must promise us that you'll be careful,"  
"I promise mum."

Since that day, Lily had kept her parents updated on what was being shown in the daily prophet. She didn't want to worry them, but she thought that they needed to at least know a little bit of what was happening.

She sat on her sofa with a coffee in one had and had the novel Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens, on her lap. When she had first read it, it had taken her a bit to get into it. But now she absolutely loved it. She was close to the end, at the part where Nancy had her meeting with Mr Brownlow and Rose Maylie, when an owl arrived at her window. Hopping up she went and opened the window for the tiny brown bird. Into her hand her Hogwarts letter was dropped. "Finally!" opening up the envelope she pulled out two different pieces of parchment. The one on top was her book list. She was glad she finally had it. She had been waiting to get all her textbooks so could begin reading them. She then swapped to the other piece of parchment "OH MY GOD!" she screamed as she read the letter.

_Dear Miss Evans,_

I am pleased to inform you that you have been made Head Girl. You have proven yourself that you are responsible and caring as both a student and prefect in the previous years.

_Both Professor Dumbledore and I think you are a very bright and capable young witch. We have watched you grow into who you are today. For you are a loyal friend and will stand for what you believe in. These are only a couple of reasons to why we chose you._

_As head girl you and the chosen head boy will be required to work together to make Hogwarts a better place. Together you will organize events, take charge of the prefects and work with Professor Dumbledore and myself._

Please head to the prefect carriage at the being of the trip to Hogwarts on the 1st of September. There you will meet your fellow prefects.

I look forward to working with you in this school year.

Yours sincerely,  
Professor McGonagall,

_Deputy Headmistress_

"Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god," Lily kept repeating, "I got it! I can't believe I actually got it!

"What on earth are you going on about," Hazel asked sleepily walking down the stairs.

"MUM! I GOT HEAD GIRL!"

"Darling! That's fantastic! I knew you would!" Hazel exclaimed giving her daughter a massive hug, "I'm so proud of you! Just wait till we tell your father!"

"Tell me what?"

Lily and Hazel looked each other and smiled. Lily was bouncing up and down on the spot like an excited child.

"Dad! I got head girl!"

"Congratulations! Knew you could do it!"

"Hmm I wonder who the head boy is going to be. I hope it's Remus. He'll be the best choice," Lily pondered.

"It doesn't matter who it is, you'll work well with whoever," hazel told her.

"Thanks mum! Hey can I go to Diagon Alley tomorrow. Buy my books?"  
"You can," Hazel replied hesitantly locking eyes with David.

Lily noticed this. She knew they were worried about what had happened the last time she was at Diagon Alley.  
"I swear I'll be safe," she told them, "I will go straight to Flourish and Blotts and come straight home. It's all I need since I bought everything last time I was there."

They still weren't sure, but they knew that their daughter was going to need her books, but now they knew about the dangers thy were just really worried.

"Yeah, okay. But please just let me know when you are leaving," Hazel told Lily.

"Sure of course mum."

"What's going on?" Petunia asked as she came down the stairs.

"Your sister just got some great news!" David replied, "tell her Lils!"

Lily wasn't so sure she wanted to tell her. Hesitantly she said, "well... I got head girl at school..."

"Wow congratulations. You're the leader of more freaks."

"Petunia, that's not very nice.." Hazel told her softly.  
"Don't worry about it mum. I expected nothing less," Lily said before turning and walking back into her room.

Her room at the moment was a mess. Clothes were all over the floor and different pieces of parchment from last years work lay around. She walked over to her desk to pin her head girl letter on her board. It was joining both still and moving photos of her and her friends and of ones when she and Petunia were little. She then placed her shopping list on top of a small piled so she wouldn't lose it before the next day.

On her desk were a few letters from her friends. They all wrote to each other constantly but there was one letter that she kept on her desk, still not sure about it.

_Evans,  
I know you're probably surprised to receive a letter from me, but it was at the request of my mum that I send this to you._

She would like to know how your wrist and leg are since the other day. Do they hurt at all? Are you able to walk on your leg now?

I didn't get to actually make sure you were okay. So, sorry about that. I was really worried about you. I also never got to say a proper thank you for casting that shield at one stage during the battle... So thank you.

Anyway, enjoy the rest of the break.

James.

The first part had been easy for Lily to reply to. She simply replied that she was doing much better, and although it still hurt she was able to walk around a bit more. She told James to pass on another thank you back to his mum. It was however that second part she couldn't figure out how to respond to. Where he said how worried he was. It was sweet, but she had no idea what to say! Thank you? That just sounded lame. Instead she ignored it. She did say your welcome for the shield. She remembered which moment it had been. She saw the spells heading straight for him. She was freaked out but she managed to yell for him to duck and cast protego.

He never wrote another letter after this, and Lily felt the tiniest bit of disappointment, when she didn't get a response. But she figured she shouldn't have accepted anything else.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

James was running around his house. He slept in this morning and even though he had mainly packed the previous night there was still lots to do. Plus he wanted to be on the train early. He and Remus were planning on meeting in the prefects carriage before everyone else got there.  
"Padfoot! Hurry up! We're going to be late!" he yelled.  
"Calm down Prongs! We'll be on time!"  
"But I'm meeting Moony early!"

"Boys both of you keep it down! And Sirius hurry up!" another voice yelled from the kitchen. It was Linda.  
"Sorry!" they yelled back in unison.

James finished grabbing the last of his things and took the downstairs. As he walked into the kitchen Linda asked, "Are you all ready?"  
"Yes mum. Just waiting on Sirius."  
"I'm here," Sirius announced coming into the kitchen.  
"Finally," James said exasperated.  
"Oi, you just got down here yourself!"  
"Boys stop it," Linda cut in before James could retaliate.  
James just laughed, "Sorry mum. We're all good now," he said giving her a hug.  
"Be good James, set a good example. I know you'll do well."  
"Thanks mum, I'll miss you," James said moving aside to let Sirius say goodbye. Nathan had already left for work, saying good bye to the boys earlier.

"Sirius, you better behave. No breaking girls hearts or leading James astray. And write to me! Both of you! Did you send Max ahead?"

"Yup I did."  
"Okay good, be good now boys."  
"Bye mum."

The two disapparated as Linda said her goodbye.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

Lily was excited. It was a new year - her last year, she was head girl and she would be seeing her friends again soon. She was early on the platform, but there were already plenty of others there. She moved through the building crowds.

"LLLIIIIILLLLYYY!"

The moment Lily turned at the sound of her voice, she was tackled to the ground by someone giving her a hug.

"Marlene! Hi! Was that really necessary?" Lily asked as she realised who it was lying on top of her.  
"Yup!"  
"But it hurt!"

Marlene just laughed, "You'll get over it. But anyway, CONGRATULATIONS! We all totally knew you would get head girl,"  
"Thanks Mar. Do you know who head boy is?"  
"Nah, I haven't heard. It would have to be Remus though,"  
"I hope so! He's the only one I could stand. I have to live with whoever it is!

"Well its not me," a voice said from above them.

Looking up, Marlene and Lily saw Remus standing above them smiling down at them.

"Do I even want to know what the two of you are doing on the floor?" he asked.  
"She tackled me!" lily exclaimed, "it really hurt.

Laughing, Remus put his hand out to offer them both a hand to get up. As he pulled Marlene up she asked, "so if you aren't head boy, who is?"

Flashing his eyes across to lily, with a straight face he said, I've got no idea,"

"hmm okay," Lily frowned.

"Don't worry about it Lily, I'm sure whoever it is you'll be fine working with them."  
"Thanks Remus. Well do you want to go head to the carriage?"  
"Yeah sure."

Lily gave Marlene a hug, "After the meeting I'll come find you guys later," she said before walking off.

Before following Lily, Remus smiled and said to Marlene, "head boy is James."  
Walking away he could Marlene laughing behind him.

Remus ran a bit to catch up with Lily, "So how was your holidays?"  
"Yeah alright, I'm guessing you heard about what happened?"  
"Yeah I did. You okay now?" he ask her earnestly putting his arm around her shoulders.  
"Yeah, I was off my leg for a few days. Plus it was pretty scary. I'm just glad everyone was okay on the end."  
"Yeah, me too. It was weird just hearing about it all. I'm glad I wasn't there, but I wish I was. You know? Just to help you guys."  
"Don't worry Remus. We were all fine in the end - Potter what are you doing here?"

Lily and Remus had just arrived at the prefect compartment and found that there was one other person already there. Sitting on one of the seats was James Potter. He was reading a piece of parchment. When they had walked in, James looked up and smiled, "Evans, Moony."

"Potter this is the prefects carriage. I repeat, what. Are. You. Doing. Here?"  
"I'm head boy," James told her grinning.  
"Ha yeah and I'm the Easter bunny."  
"No seriously. I'm head boy. See look," putting his hand into his pocket he pulled out a small red and gold badge. Lily just stared at it shocked. Her mouth literally opened making a small 'o' shape.  
"No way, is Dumbledore crazy?"  
"I believe he is," Remus said from behind her.  
She spun quickly, "you knew!" she accused him.  
"Of course I knew. But it was so much more fun this way."  
"And I thought you were my friend!"  
"I am," he said smiling, "that is why I wanted it to be more fun!"  
Lily sighed, "Whatever, just you wait. I'll get you back one day."

James coughed, "Uh Evans, hate to interrupt, but this is a letter for us from Dumbledore just to mention a few things at this meeting."  
She took the letter from him, "Uh thanks."

She took a seat and began to read the letter. Near her Remus and James were catching up with each other. At this time others had begun walking in.

The few fifth years who had arrived were looking nervous and mainly stuck with their friends. James recognised the new 5th year Gryffindor prefects, Ian Bell and Christine Webb. Christine was a fellow member of the Gryffindor quidditch team, filling a chaser position. She smiled as she walked in, "Hey James! Did you get team captain? Are you head boy?"  
"Hey Christine," he said smiling at the younger girl, "that would be a yes for both of those questions. You better be playing chaser again this year."  
"Of course! With you as captain we've got this year in the bag."

It was 11 o'clock and the train had just left the station. Not all the students had arrived yet so those there were catching up with their friends.

James stood watching the prefects around him he still found it weird that he was made head boy. He was so shocked when he got his letter. It was usually a prefect who got the position. He remembered telling Sirius, who cracked up laughing.

Looking around the carriage he saw that Alice had arrived and was talking to Miranda Kent, the 6th year Gryffindor. The Slytherins stood in the corner, whispering and glaring at James but he didn't care. He was used to ignoring them and didn't care about their opinions. He then saw Remus and Lily who were in conversation with the 7th year Ravenclaw prefect Perrie Lynch.

Perrie was both small and quiet. Yet she was one of the kindest people in Hogwarts and loyal to her close friends. Her and Lily were good friends. They were very similar as took many of the same classes. Outside Alice and Marlene, Perrie was one of Lily's closest friends.

Just then, Snape walked into the carriage. Seeing James he hissed, "What is he doing here?"  
"I'm head boy, Snivellus,"  
Snape wasn't too pleased when he heard this, but before he could retort Lily cut in, "looks like everyone is here. Let's begin so we can all get back to our friends."

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

Other than the Slytherins making sly comments and being complete tools towards both James and Lily, the meeting with the prefects had gone relatively well.

Alice, James, Lily and Remus had gone and joined the others in a compartment. When Marlene and Sirius saw them, they both cracked up laughing. Lily's eyes narrowed, "What?"  
Sirius and Marlene couldn't respond to her. As soon as she had spoken, their laughter increased. Peter answered for them, "They find it hilarious that you two have to work together all yeah, plus have to live together."  
Lily's face blanked. It then dawned on her. She would be sharing a living space with only James. Shaking her head she smiled, not wanting to let the others know that it freaked her out a bit.  
"I'm sure it won't be that bad," she told them, "as long as you, Sirius, don't do anything."  
They all just stared at her. _Did Lily Evans just say it wouldn't be too bad to live in close proximity to James Potter?_ It was Sirius who broke the silence, "What does that mean Lily-flower? Would I ever do anything to you?"  
"Hmm I don't know Sirius, want me to start listing off things? Let's see, there was the exploding pumpkins, stealing my school books, dying my hair bla-"  
"Okay, okay we get it," Sirius interrupted while the others laughed, "but that was Prongs as well!"  
"Hey! Don't bring me into this!"

The corners of Lily's mouth lifted, "Oh I know it was. But I'm blaming you right now, since I do believe you said that _you_ wouldn't do anything to me."

"Don't bother Sirius," Alice told him, "you're never going to win."

Sirius sat back in his seat. He gave Lily the evil eye, who laughed at him, and then turned out the window.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

The rest of the trip went by fast. The eight of them squashed in the tiny compartment kept talking most of the trip.

James went quiet for a bit looking out the window. He however turned back when he felt movement against his legs. Lily who had been sitting on the floor near him, as there was barely any room on the seats, had moved closer to him and started using him as a pillow.

"You're really comfortable Potter," he heard her mumbling from below him. He smiled down at her, even though he knew she couldn't see him.

"Why thank you."  
She shook her head at him and he knew she was rolling her eyes.

The others watched on this exchange in silence, smiling knowing that someday soon, Lily will finally give in to her feelings for James that she keeps denying.


	9. Chapter 9

_Chapter 9:_

"Welcome everyone to a brand new year at Hogwarts."

The new first years had just been sorted into their houses, and Professor Dumbledore was addressing all the students before the feast was to begin.

"Now before the feast begins I would just like to inform our new students and remind our older students that the forest is out of bounds and no one is to enter it."

At this the Marauders all grinned at one another. Looking at Dumbledore, James could swear that he was looking straight at them as he said this.

"Bad things – terrible things are happening out in the magical world. This is something that many of you here would know about. But you must remember to stand tall and stand beside your friends. It is they who will help you face any challenge that comes your way. And be united. Unite as a year level, as a house and as a school.

"And finally, for those who don't know, our head boy and girl for this year are James Potter and Lily Evans," Dumbledore continued his speech which was interrupted by loud cheering and applause from the Gryffindor table and even from the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables. The Slytherins glared instead.

Smiling, Dumbledore concluded, "Now let the feast begin."

When Dumbledore clapped his hands, mountains of food appeared on the tables. The first years, especially those who were new to magic, sat there in shock at the food that just appeared in front of them. The older kids however just dug in.

Sirius stacked food high onto his plate, "Yes finally. I'm starving!" he said as he started stuffing his face.

Lily and Alice just stared at him, both wearing the same expression saying, _that is both disgusting and incredible._

Marlene seeing them laughed out loud, "This is a tradition for them," she nods her heads towards the other marauders. Looking at their plates, they are all stacked with food.

"What are their stomachs? Bottomless pits?" Lily joked.

"Yup pretty much. You think what you see everyday is bad? I swear at these feast their aim is to out eat one another."

"I think I'm becoming full just watching them eat. Or at least sick," Alice commented.

At this the marauders finally looked up from their food, "What?" James asked with food stuffed in his mouth.  
Lily just rolled her eyes as Alice replied, "Nothing."  
Shrugging James went back to his food.

"Hey Alice, where's Frank?" Lily asked, realising she hadn't seen him at all.

"Oh he's just sitting down there," she told Lily, nodding her head to the left.

"Is everything okay between you two?"

"Well, yeah it is. How come you ask?"

"Well you two are usually attached at the hip!" Marlene joined in.

"Plus that really didn't sound convincing," Lily added.

"I know, I know. He's just being a bit distant lately, and I don't know why."

"Have you spoken to him about it?" Marlene asked gently.

"I tried to, but I didn't know how to approach it properly. The subject was changed pretty quickly," Alice told them.

"Well, try again now we're back at school. We'll help you of you need," Lily said.

"Thanks guys. You're the best," Alice told her friends.

"Hey Evans?" a voice cut into their conversation, James.

Looking over at him she replied, "Yeah Potter?"

"Looks like everyone is either heading off or waiting to head off," he nods towards a group of first years.

Realising what he was saying Lily turned to Alice, "Can you take the first years up to the tower?"

"Of course."

"Thanks. So, uh, James. Do you want to leave now?"

"Yeah sure. Do you know where we are going?" he asked her.

"Not really, but I've got the letter with the instructions."

"No need, I think I have a pretty good idea," James told her.

"Umm okay. I'll see you guys tomorrow," she said to Alice and Marlene before walking out of the Great Hall with James.

Their friends watched as they walked out together.

"I give it three weeks," Sirius told the others.

"Give what three weeks?" Peter asked.

"Those two of course! Can't you see it happening!"  
"Nah, I give it between two and three," Marlene said, "Lily will see a different James now that they live together."

"Between three and four," Remus added.

"No way. Lily will need time. She's going to be too stubborn to admit any feelings she has for James. I give between four and five weeks," Alice told them.

"A galleon each then?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah that sounds fair," Marlene responded.

"Hey Wormtail? You in?" Remus asked Peter as he realised Peter hadn't put a bet in.

"No, I'm right thanks," he said shortly.

"Well, uh, I should probably lead some of the little ones upstairs. I'll see you all up there," Alice told them standing.

"I'll come with you," Remus stood and with Alice walked to a group of first years, who stood and followed them.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

Walking along the sixth floor, James led Lily through the corridors that would lead to their new dorm room.

"So how do you know where we are going?" Lily asked James, curiosity filling her voice.

"I'm a Marauder," he answered, smiling as if that would explain everything to her.

She looked over at him, "You know that really doesn't answer my question."

"Oh, but it does."

"How?"

"That I can't say," James told her, but when he saw the look on her face he continued, "but maybe one day I'll show you."

"I'll hold you to that."

They continued walking down an empty corridor which had no classrooms and only some paintings on the walls. All of a sudden James stopped. Turning to the left, he faced the wall. In front of him was large painting of an owl.

"Aperiamus extremo," James said.

As he did so, the owl swivelled and portrait swung open, revealing a doorway.

Turning to Lily he said, "We can change the password whenever we want, and watch this."

Pulling out his wand he tapped the owl and added, "When Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Alice Prewitt and Marlene McKinnon come looking for us, become a doorway. But do not allow them in unless we allow it."

Turning to Lily he then said, "This way they can actually visit us, and if they can't get in they have a door or something to knock on so we can know they are out here."

"Sounds good. I may have seen this all before but, I really do love magic," Lily commented.

Laughing, James said, "Ladies first," as he put out his arm indicating for Lily to move before him.

"Thanks," Lily smiled up at him as she walked past him.

She walked down a small corridor, when she got to the other opening she stopped short. James ran into the back of her, "Wha-Oh."

In front of them was their new common room. It was similar to the Gryffindor common room with both colours and layout. There was seating around a fireplace and a larger table. On either side of the room, there was a door, which both Lily and James figured led to each of their rooms. Similar to the Gryffindor common room, James and Lily knew which one belonged to who.

"This is so cool!" James exclaimed as he walked past Lily in to the common room. The room glowed in the firelight and the warmth hit him as soon as he entered.

"Definitely," Lily agreed.

James moved to the couch in front of the fire and sat himself down, leaning against the arm. Lily had remained in the doorway just staring before her.

"Are you just going to stand there, or...?" James asked Lily. As he did, he made room on the couch, indicating that if she wanted, she could sit next to him.  
Noticing this, she moved hesitantly towards him and sat down. She sat cross legged, facing him.

"So," she said breaking the silence, "Um how were the rest of the holidays for you after... Well after we saw each other," she asked him.  
"They weren't too bad. My parents weren't kidding when they said Padfoot and I would be locked up inside. Every time we tried to get out... Well let's just say we failed a lot..."

"Yeah trust me, I know the feeling. I got home after Marlene's with bruises and a limp. My parents were extremely worried, so I had to tell them. They were even worried about me going and buy my school books."

"Really? Well that is understandable. Annoying yes. But understandable."

"Yeah, I know."

As they were talking, they had both turned to face each other, but to also make themselves more comfortable. Lily had curled up into a ball and leant against the back while James leant against the arm of the chair having his legs stretched out.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

"No way! You like the Beatles?" Lily exclaimed. It was past midnight and James and Lily were still on the couch talking. They had gone through different topics and were now onto favourite music.

James laughed at Lily's reaction, "Yeah, I do. And ABBA too."

"No way! How do you even know muggle music? Most people don't."

"Uh well, I blame my mum for this."

"Your mum?" Lily was genuinely curious.

"Yeah well. My mum, although being very traditional, believes that witches and wizards need to understand some muggle things as well. So from a young age I was introduced to both muggle music and books."

Lily laughed at this. It was something she never thought she would hear from James Potter.

"What?" James asked, raising his eyebrow at her laughter. He wasn't offended just shocked at her reaction.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I just wasn't expecting that. What books do you read?"

"Umm I like Dickens, Tolkein and Shakespeare," he told her.

"I like them too! But I love Jane Austin as well. Actually over the holidays I read Oliver Twist."

"That's probably my favourite of his."

"Mine too," she told him. She actually couldn't believe it. They had something in common.

Lily yawned, which made James smile, "Getting a bit tired?" he asked her.  
"Yeah I am a bit," she said as she looked at her watch, "woah it's nearly one! We've been talking for hours."

"Time flies hey?" he said smiling.  
"Yeah, I guess it does. I might head to bed now," she said standing and moving towards her door, "Goodnight Potter."  
"Night Evans," she heard from behind her as she shut her door.

"Woah," Lily said as she looked around her room. Since she and James had been talking from when they had entered their common room, she hadn't actually seen her room yet.

Her new room was brilliant. A large bed was before her, covered in Gryffindor colours, and a desk that allowed her to look out the window. _This is absolutely perfect, _she thought.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

"OI GET UP! PRONGS, GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE AND LET US IN!"

Lily rolled over in her bed as she heard the screaming coming from outside her room. Annoyed that she got woken up, she left her room and marched straight to the door to tell Sirius to shut up.

"Will you be quiet! Some people are trying to sleep here!" she exclaimed as she opened the door. Standing in front of her were the other three marauders. Sirius was no longer yelling, but all three were staring at her.

She was puzzled to why they were staring at her, and wanted to do or say something to make things less awkward for herself as she was starting to feel very self conscious.

"I'm assuming you three actually want to come in?" she asked moving aside for them to walk in. Walking back into her common room, with the three trailing behind her, she banged against James' door, "Potter! You have visitors!"

As she said this, there was more knocking from the other side of the common room door. She knew it had to be Alice and Marlene. The Marauders must have told them where to go.

Again opening the door she said, "Hey guys."

There in front of her were her two best friends, dress in their robes ready to go to breakfast.

"Hey Lily!" they both said.

"Woah, you aren't ready yet! This is new!" Marlene commented.

"Shut up," Lily grumbled, "I only woke up a few minutes ago and that was because a few certain people wouldn't shut up outside this door."

From down the hall they heard Sirius' voice, "Prongs this place is awesome! I think I might move in!"

"No you won't!" Lily yelled before saying softer to her friends, "Come on in."

The Marauders had been laughing as they walked up the corridor but as soon a Lily walked in they stopped immediately. Well James did and just stared intently at her.

Lily felt the heat in her cheeks, but instead of letting it be obvious, she asked, "Why the hell do you guys keep shutting up as soon as I walk into a room?"

From behind her Alice and Marlene laughed.  
"What?" she spun, glaring at her friends.

"Lils, you might want to look at what you are wearing," Marlene smirked.

Looking down at herself she saw that she was still in her pyjamas, which consisted of black shorts that showed the majority of her leg and a purple singlet top with a low cut. She realised that because she was annoyed at Sirius and wanted to tell him to shut up, she forgot to put her robe on.

"Oh. I'm just - uh I'll be back," she mumbled before running to her room.

When she returned a few minutes later, the others were all waiting for her. James it seemed had also gone and gotten changed.

"We thought we would wait for you and all walk down to breakfast together," James told her as he saw her come out of her room.

"Yeah, it's a good thing today is first day and classes start later since they have to sort out the students. Or else you two would have definitely slept through the morning," Alice added.

"No we wouldn't have!" Lily said stubbornly.  
"Yeah sure, whatever you say Lils," Marlene commented sarcastically, "why were you two still in bed anyway. You're usually a morning person Lily."  
"Stay up later than usual last night Lily-flower?" Sirius asked suggestively as he wagged he eyebrows.

"Shut up Padfoot," James said as he slapped Sirius across the back is his head.

When they arrived in the Great Hall, Professor McGonagall hurried over to them, "It's about time you lot got here!"

"Sorry miss we were held up by our Heads," Marlene said nodding her head towards Lily and James.

"Yes, well, let's get all your timetables sorted," McGonagall said with a twitch of a smile.

One by one the seven of them sorted out their subjects for the year. All of them had managed to be able to study Defense Against the Dark Arts, Potions and Transfiguration. Although, Peter had only just managed to scrape through. The mixture of subject they were doing together were Charms, Ancient Runes, Arithmancy and Herbology. For Peter he had chosen Care of Magical Creatures and Divination.  
It had been easy to do the seventh year timetables as most of them were continuing their subjects from the previous year.

As they ate breakfast, James remained quiet. Truly, since he had seen Lily that morning, he had been quiet. She had no idea what she could do to him. He thought she was absolutely beautiful all the time. She was so smart and kind. He wished that she could see who he really was and didn't just think of him as an arrogant toerag. Earlier when he saw her, his mind went into overdrive. To him she was stunning, even with her messy bed hair. She might have just been woken up by his annoying friends, but she hadn't looked like it at all. At least not to him. Things had been different between them lately and he thought that they were moving forward. At least they didn't yell at each other anymore. Thinking about their conversation the previous night also made him smile. They had stayed up late having a normal conversation and even discovering they had things in common.

"James you ready?" he heard someone say, bringing him out of his thoughts.

Looking around he saw he and Remus were the only ones left. The others had already headed off to their classes. Looking down at his timetable he had Transfiguration and Charms first, luckily it meant it was two classes with all his friends. _Why didn't they wait for us then?_

"Padfoot and Wormtail went to save us seats and the girls went back to your dorm. Lily forgot something," Remus told him as of reading her mind.

"How did you know that's what I was wondering?"

Remus laughed, "Your face expression. You were really out of it just then. Thinking about a certain red head who stunned the four of us this morning?"

"Shut up Moony," James said giving him a small shove. By this time they were walking to their first 7th year class.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

"Merlin, it was so embarrassing! Why didn't you tell me?" Lily accused her friends and they were moving their way through the corridors quickly.

"We thought you knew!"

"Do you really think I would walk around like that?"

Lily was really self-conscious about her body. She knew she wasn't fat at all. She actually liked her weight, it was just her body image itself. If there was one, well maybe two things she could change about herself it would be her thighs and her stomach. She was comfortable wearing what she was this morning, but only in the company of few, like her family and Alice and Marlene, but definitely not in front of the Marauders. And definitely not in front of James. He had looked at her like no one had before. It was so intense and something she hadn't experienced before.

"Lily! Don't you dare think negatively about your body image! You are gorgeous!" Marlene practically shook her.

"No, I'm not okay! I mean look at me compared to the two of you!"  
Alice, the ever so reasonable one thought so should try a different approach, "Lily. You

can't compare yourself to us. Just like Mar said. You are gorgeous. I know you don't like your stomach, but no one notices that! Plus there's always something about ourselves that

we hate. Anyway, did you actually see the boys reactions this morning?"

"Yeah _all _of them were staring at you. Seriously girl, you looked hot this morning. Messy bed hair and everything."

They had arrived the portrait hole to the heads common room, "Aperiamus extremo, "  
Lily said before the portrait swung open. Running in, she quickly grabbed what she needed and together with Alice and Marlene hurried to transfiguration.

When they arrived, they found that the Marauders had saved them seats. They sat so it was James and Sirius together, Remus and Peter, Alice and Marlene then Lily had a table by herself, but was soon after joined by Perrie Lynch. Before Lily could start talking to Perrie, Professor McGonagall swept into the classroom.

"Welcome all of you to your last year at Hogwarts. After this, you will all be going your separate ways. Now I will not lie to you, this subject will be extremely hard this year, and I expect a lot from you all."

With that, the class started and ended quickly. To most of the group it had felt like no time had passed at all as they had listened to McGonagall talk about transformations at a large extent. After the class had finished, they packed up and walked to charms together.

To Lily it, felt normal hanging out with all the Marauders within and out of classes. Though to her it was strange at the same time, since she had spent so long hating them.

At the end of the day Lily was glad to go back to her common room. Alice and Marlene, along with Sirius, Peter and Remus had joined her and James. There they talked and mucked around, remaining there until James, to Lily's surprise, kicked them out as it was nearly curfew.

* * *

**Here we go, another chapter!**

**I am so sorry about the terrible ending to this one. I couldn't think of anything but I didn't want to sit on it for too long.. Otherwise, I hope you liked it :)**

**Black-lightningrunes-13 xx**


	10. Chapter 10

_Chapter 10_

The first two weeks passed quickly. The workload was already high and the seventh years were really feeling the pressure.

Sitting at the table in her common room, Lily was working on yet another essay that Professor McGonagall had set the class. She wished she could be doing charms or potions, which were her favourite classes, instead of the class she just couldn't seem to get the knack off. It wasn't that she was bad at transfiguration; it was more that she wasn't as strong with it as the others.

Looking down at her parchment, Lily realised she would have to rewrite the essay when she eventually finished it. Across the entire page were scribbles and arrows leading to different places and tiny writing where she had replaced words. It would be impossible for anyone to understand anything. Let alone to actually mark it.

Sighing, she leant back over and continued her work. Flicking between her piece of parchment and her textbook, it wasn't long before she was scratching out yet more lines that she had just written.

"I'm so over this!" Lily exclaimed as she dropped her quill and leant back in the seat, "I'm never going to get this done."

"Sure you will."

Jumping at the sound of someone behind her, Lily spun quickly.

"Wha- Crap Potter. You scared the shit out of me," she managed to stammer out.

Standing in the doorway, James had just returned from Quidditch practice. Leaning against the wall, he was wearing dark blue jeans and a white top that fitted well on him. His messy hair was gleaming with water and his arms were folded across his body showing his muscles. Lily couldn't help but stare at him.

"See something you like Evans?" James smirked.

"Huh? What?" she responded, confused. Then realising what he had said to her she quickly continued, "No! Stop being so full of yourself Potter."

"You were the one staring at me."

"I wasn't staring!" Lily stubbornly told him as she felt the blood rush to her face, "I turned to look at you since you had spoken and scared me since I thought I was alone."

"Sure whatever you say. So what are you actually having trouble with?"

Lily who was glaring at James to hide her embarrassment turned to the parchment on the table in front of her.

"It's the transfiguration essay. The one about changing the different stuff in animals, like rabbits and dogs, and where people can go wrong with the transformations. Which, by the way would be whatever I'm doing. I just don't know where I'm going wrong."

"Well if you want, I can try and help you?" James asked her.

"Really?"

"Yeah, sure. Just give me a second and I'll give you a hand. Then we can head down to dinner after."

With that James moved into his room, while Lily cleared the area around her to make room for James.

~~~/~~~

Alice was sitting with Marlene and the other Marauders in the Gryffindor common room working on some DADA.

"Hey Alice, do you want to take a break and come for a walk with me around the lake?"

Turning to the voice, it was Frank. Giving him a small smile she responded, "Of course I would."

She stood to start packing up her stuff when Marlene stopped her.

"I'll pack it up for you. Just go."

Nodding at her friend she took the hand that Frank had held out for her and together they walked out of the portrait hole.

Hand in hand, Alice and Frank walked through the corridors out to the ground. Alice knew it was going to be fresh outside. It wasn't exactly winter yet, but it had started to cool outside the past few days.

As they walked along both were silent, lost in their own thought. Since just before the year had begun Frank had been distant. Sure they still spent time together, but as her friends had put it, they were no longer attached at the hip.

_He must be breaking up with me, _she thought.

Yet she really didn't want that. The truth was Alice was in love with Frank. Though she hadn't told him yet. Those words meant a lot to her. To love someone and to be in love with someone was completely different in Alice's mind. She had never been brave enough to tell him how she really felt and now it was going to be too late.

When they reached the lake, the two sat against the tree, Alice wrapped in Franks arms.

"I'm sorry," he told her quietly.

"What for?" Alice asked gently. _This is it. He is breaking up with me._

"For being so distant."

He pulled her around so that he was looking directly into her eyes.

"Alice Prewitt, I am without a doubt, completely in love with you and I'm sorry for acting like a jerk. Before you say anything I need to explain," he said, not allowing himself to be interrupted.

"I was scared you might not feel the same, so I wasn't brave enough to tell you. Great Gryffindor I am, no courage or bravery there. But I decided to give you space. I was too nervous around you, it was exactly like when I liked you but couldn't tell you because I was scared you didn't like me back. Except this meant so much more, because being in love means so much more. So there you go. I love you. No I am in love with you."

As Frank said all this, the smile on Alice's face grew. She leant forward slowly and kissed him on the lips softly. Pulling back only a little bit to stare into his brown eyes, she told him slowly, "and I am without a doubt in love with you. I have been for a bit, but I was giving _you_ space!"

Then she playfully slapped him on the chest.

"What was that for?"

"For making me think you were just about to break up with me!"

"But. Oh-"

However Frank never got to finish what he was saying. Alice had leant back in putting her lips to his. The kiss had started slow, but it deepened, both able to share how they felt. Though cold out, the two remained against the tree holding onto one another until they returned to the castle for dinner.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

As Lily waited for James to return her mind wondered to him and how he had been since their return to Hogwarts.

James had been a lot different in the first couple of weeks. Although Lily had begun to notice the change at the end of last year, with him being head boy it was even more obvious. Lily could see how responsible he actually was and how seriously he took his position as head boy. Together each night they would patrol the corridors. Sometimes it would be in complete silence and other times it would be idle talks. When it was complete silence it was never awkward. There would be times when they would brush up against one another and Lily would feel her arm tingle from the contact. She would always ignore it, or tell herself it was nothing. Refusing to believe anything else.

Then when they spoke, Lily realised she was getting to know the real James. They spoke about their families, their hobbies, just everything and anything.

She saw how caring he was and how loyal he was to his friends. Though she had already known that second part. She saw how he would always stand up for any of the other marauders. Plus, she herself had experienced it during that day in Diagon Alley.

One other thing that Lily could not deny was how good looking James actually was. His messy hair and brown eyes were one thing, but all those years of quidditch had done wonders for his muscles. Yes, she had noticed it over the past few years but it was something she would never, _ever_, admit. His head would inflate if he were to ever find out. Sharing a common room with only him was making it hard to cover up if she was caught staring, _which seemed to be happening a lot more these days_.

The other day he had walked out of his room, while Lily was on the couch reading, without a shirt on. Lily couldn't help but not look at him. Even his messy hair was working for him, making Lily want to run her hand through it.

"Uh, Lily? Anyone there?"

Looking to her right, James was there with all his school stuff out. She had been deep in her thoughts she hadn't even noticed him.

"Sorry," she said sheepishly, "I was lost in my thoughts then."

"No, really? I would never have guessed," James told her sarcastically.

"Shut it, Potter," Lily rolled her eyes at him, knowing he was only joking around.

"You okay though?" he removed his joking around and asked her seriously.

"Yeah."

"Mm okay. Well if you need to talk, you can talk with me."

"Umm thanks Potter, that means a lot, but I'm seriously fine," she really didn't need to tell him she was lost in thoughts about him.

"Okay that's cool, well if you need... So what can I do to help?"

"It's this stupid essay. Well, not even that. I can't do it anyway. So trying to write an essay about something when I can't do it is just impossible!"

"Woah, just calm down. How about I help you with the magic part and then you can see if you can write the essay later."

"Yeah that sounds good. Thanks."

"Right," he said as he began to move and clear the small table near the couches.

"Alright, show me what you can do," he told her.

Pointing her wand at the table, Lily said softly but strongly, "_Canius_,"  
moving her wand in the way they had been taught.

As she said this, the table became covered in long black fur. Small paws had been formed at the bottom of the legs, which were stretching themselves out. However the full transformation didn't take place.

James started cracking up laughing, at the sight that lay in front of him.

"That is seriously the weirdest thing I have ever seen!"

Lily could help but not laugh too. Slapping him playfully on the arm she said, "See! This is why I need help!"

Mumbling an incantation that Lily couldn't hear, James flicked his wand and the furry table became itself once again.

Trying not to start laughing again, James turned to Lily and told her, "You're pronouncing the incantation correctly, but from what I just saw, I think your timing is out with your voice and wand movements. Similar to charms, these are important."

"Umm okay," Lily said unsurely.

"Trust me. It's not hard. Here. Watch me."

Waiting to make sure Lily was watching, he cast the spell. The table immediately transformed into a bounding fluffy dog which moved to sit in front of James with its tail wagging.

"Ah it's so cute!" Lily laughed as she started to pat the dog. "I wish I could do this," she said wistfully.

"Well that's why we're here right?"

Beaming up at James, "Right. My turn again."

Once the dog was reversed back into the table Lily tried the spell again. The exact same thing happened except this time the table also grew ears.

"Oh come on!" Lily exclaimed as they both started laughing again.

"I swear this will never work!" she said with a hint of disappointment that she tried to cover up with laughter. James saw right through the facade, and stopped laughing.

"It will. Okay," he told her.

"No it won't. I'm no good at this."

"Lily Evans, you are the brightest witch in our year level. Don't ever say that you are no good."

"But -"

"No buts!"

"Too bad there will be a but. I mean I'm just a muggle born right."

James couldn't believe what he just heard. It actually hurt him hearing Lily put herself down because of her blood status.

He moved right next to her, taking hold of her shoulders spinning her to face him. Their bodies were so close, touching one another. Each could feel the other taking a breath.

"Lily, look at me."

She wouldn't. Instead she moved her head down to look at the ground, hiding the tears that had begun to form in her eyes.

"Lily, please look at me."

Shaking her head she continued to look down. The tears had begun to roll slowly down her face, and she didn't want James to see them.

Instead of waiting for her or asking again, James gently moved his right hand to her chin, lifting it up so that he could see her face. Looking into her green eyes, he gently wiped a tear away from her face with his thumb.

"Lily. Don't ever put yourself down because of your blood status. Not ever. You are so capable and so much better that the 'pure bloods'."

Instead of replying, Lily put her forehead against his chest and remained silent. In response to this, James wrapped his arms around her, pulling her tighter to him. He didn't like seeing her like this.

After a moment of standing in that position, James moved away. He wanted to do something that would make her happy.

"Okay, let's try this again. Here stand here," he said as he pulled her to stand in front of him, with her back right up against him.

As she stood where she was she felt her cheeks heat up. The next moment she felt his arms go around her. /Oh my god,/ she thought. She could even feel his muscle against her. His hand grabbed her hand that was holding her wand.

"Okay this is the movement," he said into her ear as he moved their hands in the correct way for the spell.

"On the count of three. One...Two...Three!"

When James said three, Lily cast the spell. In front of them both a black furry dog was running around.

"I did it!"

"Told you that you could!"

"Thank you James."

_She just said James She actually said my name! It sounded so nice from her lips,_ he exclaimed in his head.

"You're welcome."

"No I mean it. For everything."

"I know. I meant every word."

Giving him a small smile, she sat down on the couch as James transformed the dog back into the table.

"You know, I think I'm done with work for now. I'll do more tonight before we do patrols," Lily told James as she sat down.

He sat down next to her. He didn't want to leave her and he wanted to make her smile and laugh. Dinner wasn't too far away and he knew she wouldn't really want to go down if she thought it had been obvious she was upset. So instead of doing his homework, James decided to keep Lily some company.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

Together, James and Lily walked downstairs to the Great Hall for dinner. When they arrived they found all their friends, except for Alice, sitting together.

"Hey, where's Alice?" Lily asked as she sat down with James beside her.

"Hey you two," Marlene responded, "She and Frank went out to talk earlier and haven't returned."

It was as she was finishing telling Lily, she looked properly at her friend, "Lil?"

With a slight shake of her friend's head, Marlene dropped it. Just by looking at Lily she knew something had happened. It wasn't obvious to anyone else but Marlene knew Lily too well.

With the raise of Marlene's eyebrow, Lily mouthed to her, "Later."

James watched the exchange between the two friends. He knew that when Lily told her friends exactly what she said, they would react the exact same way he did.

"So where were you two?" Sirius asked them to break the short silence.

James saw that Sirius too had watched the exchange between Lily and Marlene. As had Remus. It was just Peter who was completely oblivious.

However before either James or Lily could respond, Alice and Frank joined them, both grinning and holding hands.

"Well it's about time you two fixed whatever was going on!" Sirius told them.

"Yeah I agree," Frank said giving Alive a kiss on her cheek, "I was being a complete idiot."

"That you were," Alice laughed, judging him with her elbow.

Smiling at their friends, the rest turned to continue what they had been talking about.

"So, where were you two?" Remus asked James and Lily again.

James had to respond as Lily had just put food into her mouth.

"I was helping Lily with transfiguration."

The corners of James lips pulled that small bit up at his friends reactions to him calling Lily by her name instead of Evans. All of their eyes darted to her face to see her reaction, but she was peacefully eating.

James too had been worried about calling her Lily, but wanted to try anyway. He knew it was the seriousness of their conversation that had brought out the first names, but now that they had both said them he didn't want to go back.

The chatter continued while all of them ate. Alice and Frank were being sickly sweet towards one another, Marlene and Sirius were in an argument of some sort and Lily had remained quiet.

"Hey James?" she asked softly, "Can you please pass me that plate there," she point at the plate she meant.

"Sure," he leant and grabbed the plate to give it to her.

When he looked back at his friends they had all gone silent once more and were staring at the two of them.

"What?" Lily asked.

"You just called James, James!" Marlene exclaimed.

Smiling, Lily said, "That is his name isn't it?"

"Well duh! But you never call him James and he never calls you Lily, but he did earlier and you didn't even react!"

By this time Lily was laughing at her friend. She found it quite funny that one of her best friends was making such a big deal out of it.

"Lily!" Marlene whined, "it's not funny!"

Looking at her two friends, Lily who was laughing at her and Alice who had finally fixed whatever was going on between her and Frank, Marlene decided it was time for a serious girl talk.

Standing and moving to pull each of her friends from their seats she told the boys, "We have to go for a bit. See you losers later," before dragging her friends out of the Great Hall.

From behind them she heard Remus' voice calling, "Alice don't forget we have duty later!" Followed by James calling out, "You too Lily!"

Looking at her friends Marlene saw the smile on Lily's face as she heard James call out behind her. _There is definitely something going on there,_ she thought.

Ignoring the protests from both Lily and Alice, Marlene dragged them to Lily and James' room, made Lily open the door and then pulled them into Lily's room and onto the bed. Both Alice and Lily knew where this was going.

"Okay, spill! Girl talk time!" Marlene told them, looking at them both expectantly.

Knowing Lily wouldn't say anything, Alice laughed, "Okay, okay! I'll go first!"

Both her friends looked at her waiting for her to tell them whatever had happened.

"Frank told me he loved me!"

"AHHH! ARE YOU SERIOUS! THAT IS AMAZING!" Both Lily and Marlene squealed at the same time.

"I know, I know!" Alice joyfully said as she began to bounce up and down, "I finally got to tell him how I really feel. I swear I thought he was about to break up with me!"

"So why was he acting to strange then the last couple of weeks?" Lily asked.

"He said he was worried that I might not feel the same way, and that to him saying those words mean a lot. And it wasn't just a 'I love you' it was 'I am _in_ love with you."

"Aww, you two are absolutely perfect for one another!" Marlene cooed, both her and Lily understanding the distinction between the two.

"So tell us word for word what he said," Lily insisted.

So she did. Alice described how it was silent walking together and how she was freaked he was going to break up with her before she could really tell him how she felt. She told them what he said. Together the girls, laughed, squealed and cooed at the relationship.

That was until Alice turned to Lily and said, "It's your turn now."

Lily rolled her eyes, "Eurgh, damn it, I thought you guys had forgotten!"

"Forgotten? No way! This is a momentous occasion!"

"And how is that?"

"Oh I don't know. Let's see. First, you actually are getting on lately. Second, you have barely complained about him being head boy alongside you. And three, YOU CALLED HIM JAMES! Do you realise how awesome this is! My two best friends from different groups finally getting along!"

"Calm down Mar! It's not that big of a deal."

"Actually, it kind of is Lils," Alice cut off Marlene, "since first year you have been so stubborn. It's changed though now. Even at the end of last year, after the whole Snape thing, when you guys were getting along it was still Potter and Evans. Now all of a sudden we hear him call you Lily and you call him James."

"Okay, okay," Marlene began, gesturing that she was calm, "When you came down to dinner something had happened. You had covered it pretty well but I know you too well and you told me you would tell me later"

"Huh, what are you two talking about?" Alice asked confused, as she hadn't been there.

Looking between her friends, she knew that she would have to tell them what she had said about herself to James. There would be nothing else that she could say to cover why she had been upset. This meant she was going to get a reaction exactly like James'.

"Well, when James said he was helping me before with transfiguration that's the truth. I was having a lot of difficulty, and I mean sure it was hilarious seeing the things that I was creating but it was really disappointing because I wasn't doing it right."

"Lils, you hold yourself too high. You expect too much of yourself," Alice said softly.

"But I have to!"

"No you don't Lils!" Marlene exclaimed.

"Guys, we're getting off topic here," Alice stated.

"Well actually, we're not really," Lily continued, "I may or may have not have brought up being a muggle born."

"Lily!" her friends exclaimed.

"Being muggle born doesn't mean anything! You are the best in our year level! This is why you were just saying that stuff about high expectations. Isn't it?" Marlene questioned her.

Lily couldn't lie to her friends, but she couldn't admit it to them out loud. Instead she remained silent. This however was as much of an answer that her friends needed.

"Oh Lily," Alice said before pulling her into a hug.

Marlene, feeling left out of the hug wrapped her arms around both of her friends.

Feeling Lily shake beneath her, Marlene softly moved her hair away from Lily's face.

"Lily Evans, you listen to me and you listen carefully," Marlene said softly but firmly.

"Blood status does not matter. You are so amazing. You are bright and incredible, and you _don't_ need to prove yourself. Especially not to anyone else. Who cares about those idiots who believe that it matters. You are so much better than so many of the 'pure bloods.' I never want to hear you putting yourself down, just because you grew up as a muggle."

Sniffling, Lily looked up at her friends and wiped her eyes, "I'm sorry guys. I'm such a mess."

"Hey, don't be like that," Alice said nudging her softly.

They sat in silence, holding on to one another. At least until Marlene decided that the serious mood was over by poking Lily.

"Oi Mar!" Lily squealed.

Alice laughing at Lily's reaction poked her from the other side.

"Ah! Oh come on!"

Lily in return started tickling her friends back. In the end it resulted in the three girls crying of laughter.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

Walking along the corridors all Lily could hear was hers' and James' footsteps echoing around them. Their duty that night had been relatively quiet, only once meeting up with Sirius with some girl who Lily didn't know the name of. Seeing them, she had rolled her eyes and told them to go back to their dorms.

Her and James had kept up conversation for the first half of their duty, talking about anything other than what had happened earlier.

Yet since they had stopped talking, Lily could tell that James wanted to ask her something. He kept going to but then would change his mind.

Sighing, Lily asked, "What is it James?"

"Huh, what is what?"

"Well you've been wanting to ask l me something for at least the last 15 minutes."

"Oh. Have I been that obvious?"

"Uh yeah," she smirked at home.

"Okay, well I'm just wondering if you told Mar and Alice about our conversation. I saw at dinner you said you would tell Mar later. Since she figured you had been upset."

"Mm yeah, I did. They didn't really take it too well."

"Oh I'm sure their reactions were extreme. Especially Mar's"

"You have no idea."

James laughed, causing Lily to look up at him curiously.

"Well, you should have heard all the lectures that I've received from her growing up."

Realizing of course that she probably had nothing on James with Marlene's lectures, she laughed with him.

"What I said before, and most likely what Mar said before is one hundred percent true. Don't define yourself by your parentage. You are so much better than you realise," James told her seriously.

Not really knowing what to say, she looked up him and found herself looking in his eyes, "Thank you James."

They fell into silence once more.

As they started to head back towards their common room, James interrupted the silence, "Hey Lily?"

"Yeah?"

"Tomorrow night, I promised the guys that I would stay with them. It's something we do monthly. And, well I was just wondering if you didn't have an issue, well if I could miss out on patrol? I swear if you want the next night I'll patrol by myself," James rambled.

Lily thought as he asked her. It was an odd request but honestly she didn't mind at all. He had been so good to her during the day, and didn't want to mess anything up.

"Calm down James. You can stop. I don't mind at all. Seriously."

"Really? Thanks Lily!"

By this time they had arrived back at their common room.

"I'm really tired. I'm just going to head to bed," Lily told James.

"Sure," he said smiling at her, "Goodnight Lily."

Butterflies filled her stomach when he said her name. They had every time he had said it since earlier in the evening. She had been trying to ignore them, but each time she found it really hard to.

"Night James," she said before heading into her room.

As she lied in bed trying to get to sleep, Lily's mind kept wandering to James and in particular the intensity of the words he had spoken to her and when he had held her close to his body. She had felt the heat coming off his body, and every deep breath that he took. His scent of the forest and honey intoxicated her. But most of all, when his arms had wrapped around her and pulled her in close, Lily felt safe. As if nothing could hurt her. With that, she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

"See you tomorrow Lils!" James called out as he left to go meet his friends.

They had returned from dinner and Lily was setting up her schoolwork on the table while she waited for Alice and Marlene. Since James would be gone they thought it better to use the heads common room instead of being in the library or Gryffindor common room. Plus Lily had plenty of time before she had to patrol the corridors.

That was the one thing she hated about being head girl. She had to do the last patrol of the night, when really all she wanted to do was curl up in a warm place and read. At least most people were back in their common rooms and she didn't have to deal with much. Sometimes there would be people in a classroom or a broom closest, but she would let James handle them.

Hearing the knock on the door, Lily got up to let them in, "Hey guys!"

"Hey! You know it still is really weird without you in our room. The others are even more annoying." Marlene told Lily.

She was talking about Alana Gold and Elaine Johnson. Though being in the same year and spent the last six years in the same dorm, they didn't get along with one another. Mary Patterson was on mutual terms with both groups.

"I'm sure you're just making that up."

"Trust me Lily, she isn't," Alice told her.

"Well then come hang out here more!"

"Oh trust me, we will. But we still have to share a dorm with them. Mary is the only one from keeping it from turning into an all our war," Marlene sighed.

"But that's barely any time at all! Of course she is, she's the only sane one in there now," Lily joked, "Come on, let's get some stuff done before we all have to leave."

"What are we going to do?" Alice asked.

"Don't care," Marlene said at the same time as Lily asked, "How about potions?"

"Alright potions it is then."

They did their work together but finished earlier than they thought they would. Sitting by the fire they were wondering what the marauders could be up to.

"Do you reckon it'll be another prank?" Alice asked.

"Knowing them, probably yes. Or at least they'll finish the year with a spectacular show." Marlene commented.

"I can't believe this is our last year here!" Lily exclaimed, "I'm going to miss it so much."

"We all are, but hey us three. We stick together no matter what."

"Friends forever," Alice agreed.

They continue talking until Lily realised the time.

"Oh crap, you two need to go and I need to start patrol," she told them as she quickly got up.

Running out the door she added, "I'll see you guys tomorrow!"

It was quiet walking through the corridors by herself. Lily missed James' company. Even when they weren't talking, it felt that little bit better knowing there was someone with her. Now there was no one but the sound of her footsteps.

As she walked along, the light of the moon lighted the corridors. Looking out, Lily noticed that it was actually the light of the full moon.

Since third year, when she learnt about them in DADA, Lily had been fascinated by the full moon and the transformations of werewolves as well as the animagi. As she learnt about them things had begun to strike her as odd. It seemed that some things matched up to one of her classmates, Remus Lupin. She of course never did tell anyone what she discovered, or at least thought, because for one thing she didn't even know if it was true, and for another she figured the professors would know and have something sorted for him.

It seemed that about fifth year, Severus was also starting to pick up on it, so every time he mentioned one of his theories, she denied it. It had nothing to do with him or her.

Remus was her friend and if she was correct, or not, it wouldn't change how she acted around him or what she thought of him as a person.

Stopping short, Lily realised something. Hadn't James said to her, _It's something we do monthly.  
_  
_Could this mean it's actually true? _she asked herself, _but if so what on earth are the other marauders doing? It's too dangerous!  
_  
For the rest of her patrol she wondered whether everything was true, or at least what they were up to. She knew it was none of her business, but being Lily she was as curious as ever. However she decided she would wait until the next full moon.

When she got back to her room after patrol, she was too restless to sleep. Getting into her pajamas, which consisted of baggy pants and a t-shirt, she grabbed a book and headed into the common area to read in front of the fire which was still going.

As Lily read, her eyes began to droop. She however was too comfortable to move and instead fell asleep where she was.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

It was early morning when James entered the shared common room.  
He was walking to his room when he saw something move in the dim firelight. Moving closer to the couches, James found himself looking down upon Lily, who was curled on the couch with a book lightly resting on her.

_She's so beautiful_, he thought, as he smiled at the sight of her.

Conjuring a blanket, he placed it over her gently to keep her warm. As he turned to leave, he quickly did one more thing. Turning back towards Lily, he bent down and put his lips to her forehead before whispering, "Goodnight Lily."

She had moved at the touch, but did not wake up.

Slowly and without making a sound James went into his room and closed the door.

* * *

**Why hello again my lovelies**.

**I hope you have liked this chapter! I think its probably my longest so far!**

**What did you think about my Alice and Frank section? I had to have it since I hinted a chapter or two ago about them :)**

**Until next time,**

**Black-lightningrunes xx**


	11. Chapter 11

_Chapter 11._

Everybody was getting excited about the upcoming Quidditch match. It was the first for the year and would be Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw.

James was on the Quidditch pitch as much as he possibly could be, either by himself or booking it for his entire team.

As captain, he had put a great team together and knew that they could win the cup for the year. He had to win it this year, as it would be his last chance.

There were a couple of new players on the team, but James saw the potential in them. Alongside James as the chasers were Christine Webb and Chad Leery, who was one of the new players and in his third year. Sirius and fifth year, Lucus Adams were the beaters, sixth year Rhys Stoll the teams keeper and Mary Patterson was the teams seeker. When Mary tried out for the team he had been surprised to see her there. But when she flew, James knew that she would be perfect for seeker and that she would be one of the best the Gryffindor team had seen in a while.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

Lily walked out of her room to find James pacing the common room mumbling to himself.

"James?" she asked uncertainly, letting him know that she was there.

He hadn't heard her and continued his pacing and mumbling.

"James," she said a little louder, "You okay?"

Hearing her the second time he looked up and smiled at her saying, "Hey Lily," before continuing his mumbling.

Deciding to leave him to his pacing, she sat herself down in front of the fire with a book in hand. She was currently reading Dumas' The Three Musketeers.

As she read, she tried to ignore James who was still moving back and forth behind the couch she was sitting on, but it was getting hard to. Snapping her book shut, she moved to stand in the path that James was following, wanting to get his attention.

She figured that he would see her and stop. What she was not expecting was James to not notice her and walk straight into her.

Falling to the floor, she fell back but managed to put her arms behind her to help a bit, "Ow."

"Uh Lily, what are you doing?" James asked as he looked down at Lily who was still on the ground.

_Of course he notices me now_, she thought.

"I was trying to get your attention! I didn't think you would literally walk into me," she told him.

"Sorry, just a bit distracted," he said as he put his hand out to help her up.

Grabbing his hand, she replied sarcastically, "No really? I hadn't noticed. I thought you walked into people for the fun of it."

"Oh ha ha, Evans," he rolled his eyes, but the corners of his mouth curled up, letting her know he wasn't being serious when he called her Evans.

"I know I'm hilarious aren't I, Potter?"

"Yup, you crack me up all the time. But not the point right now, why exactly were you standing in my way?"

It was then that Lily remembered why she had stood there. Although talking with James, she had been completely distracted at the fact that his hand was still gripped around hers, even though there was a decent gap between them.

"Your obsessive mumbling was annoying me so I tried to get your attention. Failed miserably. So I thought you would notice me if I blocked your path, but apparently not."

"Sorry. I get like this before Quidditch matches. I'm going over strategies in my head."

"Oh okay," she said as she looked down at their still intertwined hands. James had just begun to play with her hand absentmindedly. She could tell when she looked up at him he hadn't realised what he was doing yet.

"Umm you can let go of my hand now," she told him.

"What? Oh," looking down James saw their hands intertwined and quickly let go.

It probably shouldn't have, but it felt natural just holding her. Even if it was just her hand.

After he let go, silence fell between them.

"So, um, you coming to the match?" James asked Lily to break the silence.

"Yeah I will be. I have to go support Mary. It is her first match and all."

"Only support Mary?" he joked.

"Well Sirius as well of course," Lily said playing along with the joke.

"Oh of course. But I believe you are missing a key person."

"No. I don't think I am."

"Oh come on Evans!"

Laughing at him, "Fine. Of course I'll be there to cheer you on too."

"That's better," he grinned triumphantly.

He then realised that all the years at school, he hadn't actually seen Lily in the stands. Except for maybe in the first year.

"Wait, when was the last match you went and watched?" he asked her.

"Umm, a while ago," she told him sheepishly.

"How long is a while?"

"I don't know. I swear I don't!" she exclaimed as she saw his disbelieving look.

"Sure, sure. So what did you do while everyone was at the pitch?"

"Um read? Go to the library? Anything really. I've never been a sport person, so I had no interest."

Although Lily wasn't lying when she said that, she also didn't go to the matches because James was already a complete show off and had become worse once he made the team. Plus Sev had no interest in going so she stayed with him.

"Well we're just going to have to change that," he told her.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

In the Gryffindor common room, Marlene, Alice, Frank, Sirius, Remus and Peter were all sitting together. Their books were out in front of them, but they weren't really doing work anymore.

"It's going to happen soon," Sirius was saying.

"Of course it is," Marlene said.

"Lily is actually seeing how good of a guy James is, _finally,_" Remus added.

"You have to admit though. James did act like a tool towards Lily for a while. It wasn't really until the end of last year he started acting better towards her," Alice remarked to her friends.

"He acted badly in front of her. He was better when he spoke to us about her."

"Even when he spoke to me, I could tell how much he really cared about her, cares about her. Seriously they are perfect for one another," Marlene told them.

"I really hope they end up together," Alice said wistfully.

"They will," Remus told her.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

The weekend came quickly for the group, and it was finally time for the first Quidditch match.

The cold and dreary weather of outside couldn't put a damper on anybody as the entire school was looking forward to the first match of the year. The Hufflepuff and Slytherin teams wanted to see the competition and the first years, especially the muggle borns who were new to Quidditch, couldn't wait to see a match.

The match was to start early afternoon, but James wanted his team down in the change rooms late morning. Keeping them away the cheering and the booing, the threats and the hexes up until the match.

They were currently in the Great Hall, eating breakfast, except none of the Gryffindor team were eating anything.

"Come on guys, you have to eat!" Lily and Marlene were trying to encourage Sirius, Mary and James to eat.

"Yeah if you don't, you'll have no energy for later!" Alice added.

James looked up at them, realizing they were right.

"They're right," he told the others, "eat something."

He stood up and walked down the table to make sure Rhys, Christine, Chad and Lucus were all eating something as well, and to tell them as soon as they finished they were to head to the change rooms.

Sitting back down, he told the others that he wanted everyone in the change rooms as soon as they were done. Then he just sat there mumbling under his breath.

"You know you have to eat too," Lily commented as she saw that he wasn't eating anything.

He glared at her, but reluctantly put some food on his plate and started picking at it.

Before long, James having only eaten a tiny amount said, "I'm done," before he stood.

Mary and Sirius stood a moment after him.

"Good luck!" Lily, Marlene and Alice said to them before they walk off. As they exited, they were joined by the other four members of the team.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

Dressed in thick Gryffindor jumpers, with their scarfs and ribbons in their hair, Lily, Marlene and Alice tackled the cold with the rest of the school as they headed towards the Quidditch pitch.

As they rose through the stands, it was colder and the wind was raging around them.

"It's freezing!" Lily yelled above the wind.

"Well what did you think?" Alice screamed back at her, "That's what happens when you're this high up!"

"I though you were the smart one!" Marlene added.

"Shut up!" Lily yelled back at her friends.

Moving through the stands, they found that Remus, Peter and Frank had saved them seats.

As they sat down, a voice boomed around the pitch, "Welcome to the first Quidditch match of the year! Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw!"

The voice belonged to Ross Denzin, a fellow seventh year in Hufflepuff.

"Now let's welcome the Gryffindor team! Chaser and captain Potter, chasers Webb and Leery, beaters Black and Adams, keeper Stoll and seeker Patterson!"

As he said all this, the team exited their change rooms and were circling the pitch. The Gryffindor's were cheering so loudly that it could be heard over the wind. Lily could tell by the end of the game, she was going to have a sore throat from all the yelling.

"Next we have the Ravenclaw team! Captain and Seeker Boot, chasers Edgecomb, Patil and West, beaters Hobbs and Jackson and keeper  
Stewart!"

It was the Ravenclaw's turn to cheer their team on.

Lily watched as James and Chris Boot moved in front of Madame Jones, the flying teacher and umpire for the matches. They shook each other's hands and it was decided which way each team would be going.

They flew up into the air.

"It looks like the match it ready to begin! The quaffle is released!"

Lily watched as the chasers flew towards one another for the quaffle.

"Patil, West, back to Patil! Wait no! It was intercepted by Potter. Potter to Webb, to Leery and back to Potter! He spins past Edgecomb dodging a blusher hit by Hobbs! Potter takes a shot, AND HE SCORES! 10-0 to Gryffindor!"

The crowd roared. Lily was on the edge of her seating watching every movement that happened.

"Edgecomb, Patil, Webb intercepts the pass to West, she passes off to Potter but Edgecomb intercepts. Edgecomb, West, Patil, again to Edgecomb. Takes a shot, but Stoll saves it!"

The match continued, with no sight of the snitch at all. It was close, the scores 80-70 in favour of Gryffindor.

"Woah, look at that! Potter moved in from of the pass blocking it with his body. He takes the dive to catch the quaffle! He's got it! Moves around West and takes a shot. He scored! 90-70 Gryffindor," Ross' voice was heard around the pitch.

"Woo!" Lily squealed, "Why did you guys not force me to come before?" She yelled at her friends over the wind which was still roaring around them.

"We tried to!" Marlene yelled back, "but you were so stubborn!"

"I've really got to start listening to you two more!"

It continued the same way into the afternoon and only once had the snitch been sighted. The Ravenclaw seeker had taken a dive, reaching his hand out in the air. However the chasers had gotten in his way without realizing and Boot had to lift the front of his broom up to stop the spiral down. By doing so, he lost sight of the snitch.

The scores were 120-110 Ravenclaw's way. Lily watched as the two seekers circled the pitch.

"It looks as if Patterson has spotted the snitch! She's dived for something! Yes there it is! Boot is trying to get there in time. But he doesn't! Patterson caught the snitch! Gryffindor win 270-110!"

The Gryffindor's were cheering like crazy; thrilled they had won the match. The team all flew to where Mary was in mid air and embraced each other.

Lily couldn't help but not laugh and smile. She couldn't believe she had missed out on all of this throughout the years.

"Go Mary!" she screamed out.

Feeling a tug on her arm, Lily turned and found Remus pulling her away, "Let's go," he told her.

Together Alice, Frank, Lily, Marlene and Remus had all headed back towards the castle.

"Party time!" Marlene yelled, jumping up and down cheerfully.

"Oh god, here we go," Lily shook her head at her friend.

They were in the castle heading back to the Gryffindor common room when Lily noticed something, "Hey where're Peter and Remus?" she asked.

"You'll see," Frank winked at her.

Lily rolled her eyes. She realised exactly what they were up to, but really didn't have it in her to care. Too much. As long as the little ones didn't get involved too much, she would be lenient.

It wasn't long after they had arrived at the tower and finished setting up that Remus and Peter had stacks of food, butterbeer and some fire whiskey.

"Don't worry Lily. Seventh years only, I make sure of it," Remus told Lily when he saw her shake her head at the alcohol.

"You better," she told him.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

The party had started as soon as the team made it back to the Gryffindor tower.

The music bellowed and everyone was having a great time. Lily was surprised McGonagall hadn't told them to stop yet.

She sat on one of the seats in front of the fire and watched everyone around her. She felt someone land in the seat next to her and turning around to see who it was she found James, grinning at her.

"Have a drink, Lily," he slurred, as he held out a cup to her.

"Umm no thanks."

"Oh, come on! You're no fun!" James pouted.

"Well someone has to watch you guys."

"Party pooper," he joked as he stood up to join Sirius.

It wasn't before long that Remus joined her sitting down.

"Enjoying yourself?" he asked her.

"Actually yes," she replied, "it's quite amusing watching them all."

"Is this the first party you've been to?"

"Nah, of course not. But usually I just head up early."

"Lily! Come dance!" Marlene was all of a sudden in front of Lily and Remus pulling Lily out of her seat.

"Fine, fine. I'm coming!" Lily squealed as she allowed herself to be pulled up and over to the make shift dance floor.

Joined by Alice, the three girls danced to the music. Jumping and spinning one another, Lily was having a lot of fun. She couldn't help but not laugh at her friends, who had already had a bit to drink, try and stay standing on their feet.

Spinning and twirling with Marlene (as Alice had gone off with Frank), Lily was having the most fun in a while. Marlene held up their arms for Lily to spin underneath. She did so. As she spun, she tripped over her own feet.

Lily yelped as she fell down. Her arms automatically went out to stop her fall. However her hands never hit the ground. Instead she felt someone else's arms go around her.

She knew it wasn't Marlene who caught her because she too would have fallen, but also the arms around her were muscular.

Turning, she found herself facing James. _Why is it always him? _she wondered to herself.

"You okay there?" he asked her, obviously trying not to laugh.

"How is it that even drunk, you still have quick reflexes?"

He shrugged, "Skill?"

She just rolled eyes at him.

"Dance with me Evans," he told her.

"Well maybe if you asked nicely," she responded.

"Will you dance with me Lily?"

"Well since you asked so nicely."

It wasn't 'proper' dancing and her arms didn't go around his neck, but they held on to one another's and she continued to spin as she had with Alice and Marlene.

"You know I don't think I've said this yet, so Congratulations!" she told him over the music.

"Thanks!" James grinned at her, "Did you enjoy the match?"

"I did! You've put together and awesome team!"

"Knew you would! And thanks, I like to think so. They're a good group. Hopefully it will lead us to the cup."

"It will."

Lily tired from the dancing went to get herself another butterbeer. She felt like she was about to fall asleep standing where she was. She decided to head back to her room, not bothering to tell her friends who were too far gone to even realise.

As soon as her head hit her pillow, she was asleep.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

When Lily left her room the next morning it was quiet. She figured James would be in his room or stayed in the Gryffindor Tower last night.

It was earlier than she was usually up but she was hungry. Heading down to the Great Hall to get some food, she knew none of her friends would be joining her for a while since she was the only one of them who managed to stay sober.

When she arrived in the Great Hall, she was one of probably about ten, and the only Gryffindor there.

She was just about to take a bite of the bacon sandwich she had put together, when Peggie flew and landed next to her. Firstly removing the letter attached to her owl's leg, she ripped off some bread to spoil her beautiful bird.

Picking up the letter to read, she recognised the hand writing immediately. It was Petunia's. With a sigh, she opened the letter afraid to think of what could be in it especially after her sister's last letter to her.

_Lily,_

Mum asked me to send you this letter. I only did because of what I will be mentioning. But I will not go near one of those birds ever again. Why can't you freaks just be normal?

As you know I am engaged to Vernon. When you were at home there was only talk about speculation of what the wedding will be like and when. Since you have left, the actual planning has begun and things have been set into place.

It will be over /your/ Christmas holidays as mum made me do it so you would be at home. Just know how much of an inconvenience this was to organize.

It is set for the 28th of December. Vernon and I wish to have it sooner than later.

I am warning you now, that there should be no freakish things happening when you are at home. I will have friends and of course Vernon's guests and I want none of your sort ruining my wedding. It is my day after all.

I am also writing to you about one other thing. Dad has fallen ill and they are unsure how long he will live. Mum asked me to write you this as she has barely left his side. She asks that you talk to that headmaster of yours so you can come see him.

From,  
Petunia

Finishing reading the letter, Lily dropped the parchment. She was hurt by the words she read, by the order her sister put things in. How could anyone be so inconsiderate? Picking up the letter and her bag that lay at her feet she ran before anyone could see the tears, and before her friends could find her. Running, through the corridors to the seventh floor.

_I need a place to be alone I need a place to be alone_, she thought.

A door appeared next to her and she ran into it shutting it behind her.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

James woke up on the couch in the Gryffindor common room.

_Wow, must have crashed here last night_, he thought.

He was the only one in the common room. Looking at the time he decided he would quickly run back to his dorm, get his stuff and run down to breakfast.

When he arrived at his common room, he found it empty.

"Lily?" he called out, wondering of he was alone or not.

Hearing no response, he figured Lily was already downstairs waiting for everyone to join her.

Starving, he moved at a fast pace without running. His head was pounding him due to the amount that he drank last night.  
_  
I swear I didn't drink that much_, he thought.

When he got to the Great Hall he found all his friends sitting in silence. Seemed as if they all had the headaches that he had too.

"Hey guys," he said as he sat down.

"Eurgh," Marlene groaned, "hushed voices please."

In front of all of them was the greasiest foods, the best hangover foods.

Remus looked around at all his friends. Sure he had had some fun last night, but it was nothing compared to the rest of them.

"It is your own fault," he told them.

"Shut up Moony," Sirius finally spoke, "does anyone have any pepper-up potions?"

"Lily should," Alice said.

"Hey, where is she anyway?" James asked, noticing that Lily wasn't with them and hadn't been there when he sat down.

All his friends shrugged. They hadn't seen her all morning either.

"Don't worry Prongs," Remus told him seeing the look on James' face, "she was the only completely sober one last night. She's probably up and in the library or something."

"Hmm okay," James replied not convinced.

He had a strange feeling that something was wrong.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

"Knight to E5," James said.

He and Remus were playing a game of chess, while Sirius and Peter watched on.

After breakfast, Alice and Marlene went looking for Lily while the guys, too tired and with their headaches, decided to head back to the Gryffindor tower to just take the Sunday easy.

A couple of hours passed when Alce and Marlene walked into the common room looking extremely worried.

"Hey have you guys seen Lily?" Alice asked as they walked in.

James looked up immediately, "No we haven't," he said.

"Damn. We've looked everywhere and can't find her."

"This doesn't seem like Lily," Remus commented.

"That's the thing. It's not. That's why we're so worried," Marlene said.

"We'll help you look," Sirius told her.

"Yeah," James agreed, "I'll go check our common room and her room and maybe meet you guys in the Great Hall? It's lunch time so hopefully..." he trailed off.

Together they walked out of the common room but it was very soon after that James separated from the others.

When he got to his dorm it was completely deserted, the exact same as he left it earlier that day.

"Lily!" he called out.

Nothing. No reply, simply silence.

He figured he should find the others.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

James was getting worried. On his way to the Great Hall he decided to stop by the library to see if Lily was in there. He couldn't find her. Hoping she would be in the Great Hall, or the others had found her, he quickly made his way there.

When he arrived, only Remus and Sirius were sitting eating.

"Hey, any sign of Lily?" he asked as he reached them.

"No nothing yet, the others are all looking for her now. We thought we would stay here," Remus told him, "should we check the map?"

James stared dumbfounded at his friends. _How could I be so stupid?_

"I can't believe I didn't think of the map before!" he exclaimed, annoyed at himself.

Running all the way back to his room, he rummaged through his trunk to find the sacred piece of parchment.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," he said as he touched the parchment with his wand.

As he said those words, writing and lines began to appear on the page. He spotted himself in his room on the map and saw that he was indeed alone. Flicking to reveal after parts of the school, he found Sirius and Remus were still in the Great Hall, Alice and Frank were walking the grounds and Peter and Marlene were just exiting the library. Yet there was no sign of Lily anywhere.

"Where on earth could she be?" he wondered aloud.

Hoping Sirius would have what he needed on him, James rummaged through his trunk for one other thing.

"Ha! There you are," he said to the object now in his hand.

He was now holding a silver hand mirror. When he and Sirius were in fourth year, his parents gave them each one of these mirrors. It was for the times when Sirius was stuck in his house.

"Sirius Black," James said into the mirror.

For a moment, the glass of the mirror went foggy. It cleared quickly though and Sirius' face and part of Remus' face were looking back at him.

"What's up Prongs?" Sirius asked.

"Did you find Lily?" Remus asked after Sirius.

"No I haven't. She isn't on the map!"

"What do you mean she isn't on the map? That's not possible!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Well apparently it is. I've looked all over and she's not there!"

They all sat in silence thinking.

"Hey, you don't think..." James trailed off.

"Don't think what?" both his friends asked.

"No. Couldn't be."

"Prongs! Tell us what you are thinking!" Sirius exclaimed.

Lost in his thoughts, James told his friends, "Don't worry. I'll see you guys later."

Dropping the mirror, the connection was lost.

/It couldn't be. It's the only room not on the map. How would Lily have found it?/ James wondered as he left the common room heading towards the seventh floor corridor.

Standing in the corridor, James wondered if Lily would be there or not.

"I need to find Lily, he said repeatedly under his breath.

After what seemed like a long time to James, a door appeared.

He walked to it cautiously and opened it slowly. When he walked into the room he found it to be a garden. There were paths, trees and flowerbeds.

Still standing in the open door way, James saw sitting on a bench, near a garden bed, a figure.

The long red hair covered her face, which was resting on her knees. She had brought her feet up to the bench and her arms wrapped around her legs to keep them there.

James closed the door. He was happy that he had finally found her. At the sound of the closing door, Lily looked up. Seeing her face, James started. From her red puffy eyes, it was clear she had been crying. A lot.

He walked over to her and without saying a word he sat down and put his arm around. For a split second, he felt her body stiffen at the contact, but it was gone in a moment and she leant into him. The tears had started again, but James knew that it was better for her that she had someone with her.

The crying did subside, but Lily remained in James' arms in silence. Every so often, James could hear her sniffling.

James didn't want to make Lily tell him what was wrong but he was really worried as she had been silent for a while.

"Lils. Lily?" he said softly, as he rubbed his hand against her arm, "do you want to talk about it?"

Instead of replying, Lily unfolded her clenched hand, revealing a piece of parchment.

Carefully, he grabbed the piece from her hand and un-scrunched it. He began to read it.

Shocked at the words in the letter, he pulled Lily closer to him.

"I'm so sorry Lily," he whispered into her.

"You know what makes it hurt so much?" Lily said softly, surprising James that she even spoke.

"What?"

"The fact that we _used_ to be close. She was my best friend before all this. She protected me when I was scared, looked after me when I was sick. And now, now she just hates me."

"She doesn't hate you Lily."

"You read the letter. She does."

"No, she doesn't. She's jealous. You are so gifted and talented and you belong in this world. You're special. She just doesn't see that."

"If I weren't a witch, everything would be fine. She wouldn't hate me."

"You belong here though. If you weren't here would you really belong?"

The question cut close to the heart. Lily knew what he was saying was right.

As a child she never really belonged with the other kids as strange stuff always happened around her. She always had her few close friends but there were always those times she didn't fit in.

It wasn't until she met Sev and found out who she really was that things actually got better for her.

Lily's silence was enough to answer James' question.

"I'm right, aren't I?" he asked her.

"Yes and no. I love being here and all you guys, but things changed at home for me the day I discovered who I really was. Though it at least explained some things to my parents. I did some weird stuff as a kid."

A small smile formed at her lips as she said this, remembering some of the things.

"You aren't the only on out there, Lily. There are plenty of people who have the exact same issues. I mean take Sirius for example."

He didn't need to elaborate. Many people knew about Sirius' situation, being placed in Gryffindor is considered a terrible thing for many of the pure blood families and over the years he has received a lot of crap for it.

They sat in silence for longer, James' arm remaining around Lily.

"You know we should probably head back. Everyone is worried about you," James broke the silence, "don't go missing again."

"Yes sir," she saluted as a joke.

They stood, and together walked back to their common room.

"You know I have to ask. How did you know about the room?" James looked across at Lily waiting for an answer.

"I found it in fifth year, when I had really just wanted to be alone. I sort of stumbled upon it. It's been my secret ever since. Took me a couple of turns to figure it out."

They had just arrived at the entry to their dorm.

"Aperiamus extreme," James said.

The entrance opened and they walked in.

"Do you want me to get Marlene and Alice?"

"No, it's okay. I should probably go find them."

"They are probably with the guys. I can get them all to meet us here," he told her before walking into his room.

From the common room Lily could hear muffled voices. Shortly after, James returned telling Lily, "They're on their way."

Within five minutes, the door was opening and Marlene and Alice were running in to see Lily.

"You told them the password?" Lily asked James.

"Actually no. They must remember it from hearing us say it."

"Lily! Are you okay? What happened? Where have you been all day?" The questions kept coming from both Marlene and Alice.

"Uhh..."

Lily saw that everyone was looking at her and she didn't really know where to begin.

Before she could begin to tell them something James cut in, "Hey, didn't we have something we wanted to do today?" He looked across at his friends hoping they would get the message.

Remus, understanding exactly what James was doing said, "Yeah, that's right. We should probably get going."

"Huh what are you - " Peter began but was cut off with a look from all three of his friends.

"See you three at dinner!" James called as the boys all left.

Lily knew the questions were going to begin immediately so she did exactly what she did to James. She held out the letter.

Together, Alice and Marlene read the letter.

"What a cow!" Alice said as she finished reading, "Ignore her Lily."

"Alice is right. She's just jealous of you, just let her be. And I'm so sorry about your dad. Are you going to talk to Professor Dumbledore?"

"That's what James said. The jealousy thing. It's just hard because she's my sister and we used to he close. Thanks, yeah I will. I have a meeting with him tomorrow, so I will ask him after that."

"Good, you should go see him. Why don't you ask immediately?" Alice asked.

"I just need some time. I know that when I go see him, I'll have to put up with wedding stuff and I'm just so annoyed Petunia put her wedding details before telling me about dad."

"Understandable," Marlene commented, "I think I would hit her if I was you."

"Yes, but I can't throw a punch."

"I can teach you?" Marlene asked hopefully.

"Sure."

"Sweet!"

"So where did James actually find you?" Alice asked.

"Umm. At the place I've gone before. One day I'll show you."

"So what happened when he found you?"

"He was great. He just comforted me for a while, let me cry. I showed him the letter and we just spoke for a while."

"Aww that's so cute!" Alice cooed.

At that, Lily blushed.

"Woah is that a blush on your face?" teased Marlene.

"No!"

"It is! You are totally blushing right now!"

"Fine, fine. I may or may not have been wrong about him."

"And what exactly does that mean?"

"It means that all these years you guys have been right. Or the fact that he really has changed. I've noticed since last year. But I don't know lately everything is just... I don't know."

Marlene got all excited, but before she could say anything, Alice got in first, "Are you telling us that you like him?"

"Umm, no. Yes. Maybe. I don't know!"

"Oh my god you totally do!" Marlene exclaimed.

"Okay, fine. I think I may. Just things are completely different now."

"Seriously, this is so exciting! It's about time!" Marlene exclaimed.

"Mar! Calm down! Please don't make such a big deal out of this."

"Don't worry, we won't Lily," Alice said cutting Marlene a look, "just trust in yourself. You know what you want."

"No I don't."

"Yes you do. You just haven't realised it yet."

* * *

**I just want to thank you all for reading! I've made over 2000 hits which has really surprised me.**

**I hope you are all enjoying this so far! I promise Jily will be soon!**

**-Blacklighning-runes x**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hi everyone! **

**I'm sorry that it took me a bit longer than usual to update. Enjoy the chapter and let me know what you think! :)**

**Black-lightningrunes x**

* * *

_Chapter 12:_

"So you wish to have a Hogsmeade weekend in a couple of weeks?"

"Yes sir."

Lily and James were in one of their meetings with Professor Dumbledore. Concluding with the idea of having a Hogsmeade day soon. Some people had already been asking them, and the third years were begging to go.

"Well I have no issue with this. I will have the heads of each house out up notices in each of the common rooms."

"Thank you, sir."

"That seems to be all. I will see you both at our next meeting."

James stood to leave, however Lily remained sitting.

"Sir," she began, "Can I speak to you about something?"

"Of course, Miss Evans."

James knew she was going to ask about going and seeing her dad.

"I'll just wait out here for you Lily," he said as he left the office.

"What can I do for you, Miss Evans?" Professor Dumbledore asked Lily as the door closed behind James.

"Sir, yesterday I received a letter from my sister yesterday. My father isn't well, they aren't really sure how long he may live."

"I am sorry to hear this. I assume you are here to ask if you may go visit him?"

"Yes sir. If I could spend some time at home."

"Of course you may. How long would you wish to be gone?"

"I'm not really sure. A week maybe. If I have permission?"

"That sounds fair. But I think a week should be the maximum. At least for now. I don't wish you to miss out on too much work."

"Of course. I wouldn't want to miss out on too much. I just need to see him."

"I understand. What do you think then? What would you like to do?"

Lily sat in silence thinking about what days she should go.

"Umm. I'm not sure. Perhaps Wednesday to Tuesday?"

"That will work just fine. I will speak to your teachers and Professor McGonagal. On Wednesday, meet Professor McGonagal in her office at, let us say, lunchtime and she will escort you out of the gate. For your return, I will set up the floo network so you may go straight to your common room from your house. That way you may arrive back anytime you wish during the day, but it will only be set up for Tuesday."

Yes sir. Thank you so much."

"You are very welcome."

With that, Lily stood and exited the office.

Leaning against the wall on the opposite side, James was waiting for Lily.

"So how did it all go?" he asked as soon a he saw her.

"I'm going home on Wednesday until next Tuesday," she told him.

"Oh okay."

Lily thought she heard the sound of disappointment in his voice as she said how long she would be gone.

"I might head to the owlery and let my parents know I'm coming to visit," she told James.

"Sure. Do you want me to come with you?"

"No, don't worry about it. The guys are probably waiting for you."

"Yeah, right of course. I'll see you later then."

"Yup, see you later."

They walked their separate ways.

As she headed to the owlery, Lily wondered what it would be like at home and how sick her dad was.

As she arrived at the owlery, she took out some parchment and a quill and begun writing the note.

_Mum &Dad,_

How are you both?

I received Petunia's letter and went to speak with Professor Dumbledore. With his permission I am able to visit for a week. I'll be arriving on Wednesday (in two days) and can stay until next Tuesday.

Cannot wait to see you,  
Love you lots,  
Lily.

Attaching the parchment to Peggie, she watched as her bird flew away.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

Wednesday morning, Lily was packing some of clothes and books into a bag to take home with her.

James stood at the doorway watching her.

"You sure you're going to be okay?" he asked, as he leant against the door.

"Seriously? Of course. I'm just going home James."

"But your sister will probably be there."

"She'll definitely be there and I'm just going to deal with it. I'm going to see my dad and make sure mum is doing okay."

"I know, I know. But your sister sounds like a cow."

"We just aren't as close anymore. Everything will be fine. Trust me."

"Yeah, I do. Listen, you'll write to me right? If you need anything at all?"

"Yeah, I will. I might actually send Peggie ahead, that way she's there if I need. And James."

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for being here for me. And just understanding and all."

"You're welcome."

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

When it got to lunch time, Lily figured she would head to the Great Hall, get something to eat say goodbye to her friends then go to Professor McGonagall's office.

"We'll miss you Lils," Alice was saying as they were all eating.

"It's only a week guys."

"A week too long!"

Lily shook her head and her friends, "I should probably get going guys," she told her friends.

"Okay sure, we'll come with you," Marlene said, as she along with Alice and the Marauders all stood. Frank had already said goodbye as he finished lunch earlier to go to the library.

"Seriously, you don't all have to come."

"Sure we do," Remus said smiling at her.

Knowing she wasn't going to win this, she just nodded and with her friends walked to Professor McGonagall's office.

When they made it outside the office door Lily began hugging everyone. Peter first, Remus then Sirius, who lifted her off the ground, spun her around and said, "Don't worry Lily-Flower, everything will be fine. You'll see."

"Thanks Sirius."

It was then James' turn. She wrapped her arms around his neck, while his automatically went around her waist.

"He'll be okay Lily. And remember, if you need anything, just write," he whispered into her ear.

"Thank you, and I will, promise."

Letting go of James she moved to her best friends.

The three of them all moved into each others arms.

"We'll miss you!"

"I know, I know. I'll miss you guys too!"

Letting go of her friends, she said, "I'll see you guys next week."

"Bye Lily."

"Say hi to your parents."

"See you next week."

Her friends all said before turning to walk away.

Lily let them walk a distance before knocking on the door before her. From behind the door she heard, "Come in."

Putting her hand on the door, she turned to look where her friends were further down the corridor. At that moment she looked, James too turned around. Their eyes locked and both gave the other a smile. James raised his hand before turning back around. Once he turned around, Lily entered the office.

"Miss Evans, here you are," Professor McGonagall said as she looked an saw Lily entering her office.

"Hi. Sorry if I kept you waiting Professor."

"Oh no, not at all. So shall we?"

"Professor, just to check am I disapparating home?"

"Yes you will be. As I am sure you may know, you are unable to disapparate from inside the castle walls, so I will be escorting you outside the perimeter and you may leave from there."

Professor McGonagall lead Lily down to the main gate of the grounds. There she opened a smaller gate, about the size of a normal door, and moved aside for Lily to move past.

"Thank you Professor," Lily said as she walked out of the gate.

"You are most welcome Miss Evans. I look forward to having you back in the class. Goodbye."

"Bye Professor," Lily said before she disapparated.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

It was cold when Lily apparated into her back yard. The sky above her was grey making the day seem later than it actually was. Not only that, rain was pouring down on her.

Securing her bag on her shoulder, Lily ran across the grass in the backyard.

She didn't make it halfway before her foot slipped on the wet grass and she ended up falling down and sliding a bit across the ground.

"Eurgh, of course I fall," Lily mumbled to herself as she pushed herself off the ground.

Scrambling up, now covered in mud, Lily quickly, but carefully, moved to her back porch.

Safe from the rain, Lily shook her hair out of her face and took her shoes off.

The door she walked through was the one that lead to the laundry. That way she could leave her bag there and not take it through the house while it was soaked.

Since the door was unlocked, Lily knew people were home do she called out, "Hello? Mum? Dad? Anyone?"

"Lily! We're in the kitchen!" Lily heard her mum's voice calling out.

Walking through her house she went into the kitchen where, sure enough, her mum and Petunia had wedding plans spread across the table.

"Lily!" Hazel exclaimed, as she saw her daughter in the opening, standing to move to give her a hug.

She however took in the sight of Lily, wet and covered in mud, and changed her mind.

"It's so lovely to see you, but why don't you go get cleaned up first. What on earth happened?"

"Umm, I may have fallen across the grass as I tried to escape the rain."

Hazel just laughed at her daughter, "I have no idea where you got your clumsiness. Go on, have a shower and warm up. Your father is in our room but if he's awake or asleep, I'm not sure."

"Kay, thanks."

With that Lily walked upstairs. Peeping into her parents room she saw her dad lying on the bed. She couldn't tell if he was awake or not so she decided she would have her shower first.

Heading into her room Lily grabbed her favourite jumper and black sweatpants. She saw that Peggie had arrived safely and was glad that she had decided to send Peggie across earlier so she could write to her friends.

Once she said hello to Peggie, she went to the bathroom, which was the room next to hers.

The warm water washing over her body felt amazing. After making sure all the mud was gone, Lily just remained under the running water while she thought about different things.

However, there was only one thing, no one person, that her kind kept wondering to. James. Every little thing he did now Lily noticed, making her realise that he had been wrong about him. Though she had only ever really seen the jerk side of him, since that was how he always acted towards her. Now he was different, now she was seeing the side of James that everyone always told her was there.

Except now that she was seeing it, and had finally admitted to her friends how she felt, he hadn't even asked her out once. She knew that of he did, she would say yes and give him a shot.

Running her hands through her hair one more time, Lily turn off the water and quickly dried herself so she could get into her warm clothing.

Performing a charm to dry her hair, she went to see if her dad was actually awake or not.

Looking into her parents room, she found her dad was now sitting up in bed reading a book.

"Dad!" she exclaimed as she rushed into the room and into his arms.

"Hi darling," David said, kissing the top of her head.

Lily moved back to look carefully at her father. Dark circles covered his eyes and he was extremely pale.

"Don't look at me like that sweet heart," he told her.

"I'm sorry dad. But what happened? You were okay before I left."

"Well not a hundred percent," he hesitated, "there were some signs, but your mother and I didn't want to worry you. Especially not before school started, and with everything else going on in the magic world."

As her father spoke, tears had formed in Lily's eyes.

"But dad, I get that, but why couldn't you just tell me? Do you know how hard it was to get the letter saying that you were unwell and they weren't sure how long it would be."

"I'm sorry. I truly am."

"So what is it?"

"What do you mean?"

"What have doctors said?"

"Oh," he hesitated, "they think that it's cancer. I have some tests over the next few days. There's no need to worry okay honey?"

"Okay dad. I'm going to go get coffee, would you like some?"

"No thank you. Do me a favour and help out your mum and your sister with the wedding plans."

Rolling her eyes, she stood saying, "Sure dad."

Before she left, she leant down and gave him another hug.

"Love you," she whispered into his ear.

"Love you more."

Leaving her father in peace, Lily went to the kitchen to get the cup of coffee she desperately craved.

When she walked back into the kitchen, she found herself engulfed in her mothers arms.

"I'm so glad you're here," she heard her mum's muffled voice.

"Me too," Lily replied hugging her mum back.

"So mum, what do you think of the menu I've created from the chef's mains?" Lily heard Petunia's voice from the kitchen table.

Letting go of Lily, Hazel turned to Petunia and said, "Hmm, let's have a look at it," before going and sitting back down.

Looking across at Petunia, Lily saw that her sister was already looking at her. The grin on Petunia's face was saying _this is my time and you can't ruin in._

Rolling her eyes at her sister, Lily went to get the cup of coffee. As she made it, the smell filled her and she couldn't wait to drink it.

Holding the cup in her hand she sat down at the table.

"So is there anything I can do?" she asked.

Petunia just looked at her suspiciously, while her mum responded, "Of course! We would love your opinion, wouldn't we Pet?"

Knowing there was no way out of it, Petunia smiled at both Lily and Hazel and said, "Yes. Of course."

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

Lily lost count of the amount of coffees she had had in such a short amount of time.

Stuck at the table with Petunia and her mum discussing wedding plans wasn't really what she wanted to do. Listening to places where to hold the reception, the amount of guests, the order things should go in was boring her to death. However as promised she out in her opinions, and helped out making it seen like she was interested.

It was only when the colour schemes of the bridesmaids dresses of the wedding party came up that Lily was surprised.

"Well I was thinking of pink, but that won't go with Lily's hair," Petunia had begun saying.

Lily just blanked at her sister, "Um, I'm sorry what?"

"Bridesmaids. Red hair and pink do not match."

"Yeah I get that. But I didn't realise I was a bridesmaid."

"Well of course. Freak or not, you are my sister and you /have/ to be a part of my wedding. I would have had you as maid of honour. But since you are the place of freaks -"

"That's so great that you are having Lily involved!" Hazel cut in front of Petunia. She was happy that Petunia had let Lily be in her wedding party, but knew that Petunia was probably about to say something that would end in a fight.

"Yeah umm thanks Petunia. I'm really honoured you want me and I'm glad to," Lily said putting a smile on her face.

On the inside, Lily didn't feel so great. She was happy that Petunia wanted her as a bridesmaid, but Lily seemed to think it was just a show, for her friends and the family. She wasn't asked, but instead told, and while being told was insulted for being who she is.

"It'll be great Lily. Just you wait. So about the dress colour, I was thinking purple or silver? What do you think?"

"Um, I'm not sure," Lily said honestly, "it needs to be your choice."

"But I'm not sure."

"Look at the time," Hazel said, "We've been at this for hours."

Looking up at the time, Lily saw that it was getting close to 5 o'clock.

Standing up, Lily went to the kitchen to wash her coffee cup. She really wanted another, but thought she should wait until after dinner.

As she washed up, her mum started preparing food around her.

"Can I help at all?" Lily asked her mum.

"No, no of course not. It's your first night home. I won't have you do anything tonight!"

"Okay then, I'm going to head up to my room for a bit. I'll probably come back down later though."

"That's okay sweetheart."

Walking upstairs it was pitch black. Shadows casted along the walls. In her room she flicked the lights on and sat herself down on her bed wondering what she wanted to do. Looking around her room she found herself looking at her desk, which had parchment and a quill sitting on it, and at Peggie who was perched in the corner of Lily's room that she had set up for the owl.

Suddenly Lily knew exactly what she wanted to do. Moving across to her desk Lily sat down, moving a piece of parchment in front of her and grabbed a quill. There she began to write.

_James,_

_You said to write if I wanted to, so here goes._

_I know I only arrived earlier today, but as you had put it earlier, my sister really is a cow. I had to spend my entire afternoon looking at wedding plans. Can I kill myself? Please? It was so long and boring but I promised my dad I would help. _

_Seeing dad was really hard. It turns out my parents have known for a while about my dad and had decided not to say anything. I can't believe they would do that! They still have no idea how hard it was the day I got that letter._

_Taken the opportunity to get up to trouble with the rest of the Marauders now that I'm gone?_

_ Lily._

Happy with what she wrote, Lily attached the letter to Peggie and told her to deliver the letter to James.

Grabbing A Tale of Two Cities from her bag, she decided to head back downstairs so that she was still near her family since she only had a week with them.

While Lily had been writing her letter her father had left the bed and headed downstairs. When she walked into the kitchen with her book in hand she saw her father standing behind her mother with his arms around her waist as she cut up the vegetables for dinner.

She smiled at the sight in front of her. It was quite cute and was something she didn't often get to see. Lily loved the fact that they were like this, even though she knew that they were unsure of what was to come. She knew they would stick by each other and use whatever time they could to spend together.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

It was breakfast time, the following day, and James was sitting with Remus, when a familiar owl came and dropped a letter in front of him.

"Hey isn't that Lily's owl?" Remus asked, "Umm Peggie, I think."

"Yeah it is," James said as he opened up the letter to read it.

"So is it from Lily?" Remus asked as James refolded the letter.

"Yeah it is."

"And?"

"And what?"

"Well, why was she writing to you?"

"I told her is she needed anything that she can write."

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah I think she just wanted to write to someone and get away from her sister's wedding planning."

"And she wrote to you?" Remus asked, disbelief obvious in his voice.

"Yes she wrote to me! What's so unbelievable about it?"

"James, she hated your guts up until the end of last year. I just would have thought she would write to Alice or Marlene or both."

"Yeah fine, fine. I get your point. Maybe she wrote to them as well? But Moony, can we not tell the others?"

"Sure, Prongs no problem."

"Thanks. Do you have some parchment so I can respond?"

Without answering, Remus grabbed his bag and handed James a piece of parchment and quill.

Scribbling down a response to Lily, he rushed off to the owlery not wanting to make Peggie have to fly such a long way again.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

Petunia had left the house sometime after breakfast leaving the day free for Lily to spend with her parents.

They were sitting in the lounge room talking. However both Hazel and David were trying to avoid the conversation about David's sickness by asking Lily how school was going.

Lily answered their questions, knowing that her parents had some appointments later in the day and she would talk to them after those.

"So how is it being head girl? Who is head boy? Do we know him?" Hazel was asking Lily.

"It's great! I've gotten to run the prefect meetings and having my own dorm is the best. The only bad thing is I have to take the late rounds."

"And the head boy?" Hazel pressed.

"Uh, James Potter."

"Isn't he the one who you hate? And would complain about him every time you were at home?"

"Um, yeah that's the one."

"So what's its like having to work with him then?"

"Actually not too bad. He's really matured and doesn't annoy me anymore. Plus he's a good leader. Actually the girls and I hangout a bit more with James and his friends."

Hazel and David locked eyes for a brief second, smiling at one another, before Hazel turned back to Lily and said, "Marlene must be happy with that. She's been friends with them for years right?"

"Yeah, she is."

They sat there for longer, talking about classes and really just anything, wanting to spend as much time together.

It was mid afternoon when David and Hazel had to start getting ready to go to their appointments. As they stood, Lily decided she would reheat some of the pasta from the previous night for lunch.

It didn't take her parents long to get ready to leave, and once they were gone Lily was sitting at the kitchen table eating lunch.

She was lost in her thoughts staring out at the dark sky when a tiny white owl landed on her windowsill.

Getting the owl to hop on her arm, she carried it upstairs so it could rest on the perch Lily had in her room.

There she opened up the letter, already guessing who it was from.

_Lily,_

Of course I am staying out of trouble! I resent the fact that you believe I would even do such a thing!

I, along with everyone else here, would prefer if you didn't kill yourself. I'm sure the wedding planning can't be that bad?

I'm so sorry again about your dad. They would have had a good reason to not tell you. It was just after the Diagon Alley incident. Maybe they were going to tell you but things got a bit crazy. Just tell them if it ever comes up again, they'll understand.

Keep writing if you need anything at all, even if it's someone to talk to.

James.

P.S. Meet Apollo. He's been my friend since first year. A warning, he can bite strangers.  
  
Finishing the letter, Lily smiled to herself. She would write back but would have to do it later since Apollo would be tired. She did carefully put out food for him, and luckily he didn't bite her.

It was nice being by herself in the house. She was able to sit herself on the couch downstairs with a book in hand and a coffee next to her. She had no one to distract her, or at least try to, and was then able to escape into the book and into her thoughts.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

"It's weird not having Lily-flower here," Sirius commented.

It had been a few days since Lily had left to visit her parents. Everyone was sitting around eating lunch.

"Yeah, we have to put up with you lot more," Marlene told him.

"Don't lie McKinnon, you love us."

"You wish Black."

"Yeah, he does," James joked.

While the others laughed, Sirius' eyes narrowed.

"You know, on the subject of 'loving people'... Why have you not asked Lily out yet?"

That made everyone go silent. They too were also curious to why he hadn't. Not since last year.

"I don't want to ruin things," he told them honestly, breaking the silence.

"What do you mean?" Alice asked.

"Everything has been great between us. I mean we're getting along and everything. I just don't want her to get annoyed and hate me again."

"She won't."

"What do you mean, she won't?"

"Exactly what I say. You said it yourself James. Things are different now. You don't know how she would respond."

"Are you saying that you know something Alice?"

At this, Alice looked and locked eyes with Marlene, who was sitting next to James. Marlene moved her head slightly to the left and then back. _Don't say anything_.

"No, sorry. There's those sides of Lily where we have no idea what goes through her mind," Alice responded to James, understanding Marlene.

"Oh. Okay," James replied sounding both disappointed and unconvinced.

"Don't worry James, she's been writing to you pretty much everyday since she left. Just ask her when she gets back," Remus commented.

"Wait what?" Marlene asked.

"Thanks Moony," James said glaring at Remus.

"What letters, James?" Marlene pressed.

"It's nothing, we've just been writing to each other."

"About what?"

"Just anything. She just wanted to escape her sister's wedding planning so she wrote to me. I told her before she left just write if she needed anything."

"And you're worried that she would reject you if you turned her down! She hasn't written to us at all! When she gets back you have to ask her!"

"Fine, I will. Maybe."

They all just groaned at him.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

The rest of the week went quickly for Lily. From the tests that David undertook, the results came back informing the family that he had a heart disease. They would be able to keep it under control but it could be unpredictable.

Throughout the week, Lily had had to put up with the excessive wedding planning and she was over it. Petunia had finally decided on colours for the dresses. They would be mainly a deep purple but have some silver though out. Lily was dragged into a dress shop where she and Petunia's maid of honour and other bridesmaid, Chrissy and Lexi, along with Petunia had to get measured for dresses. Lily considered it one of the worst days and complained about it a lot in one of her letters to James.

It was the final day that Lily could stay at home with her family. It meant that Dumbledore would have once more set up the floo network for her, which would be open until midnight. Lily knew she would stay as late as she possible could.

She was sitting at the table reading her latest letter from James.

_Lily,  
We miss you like crazy. Even Sirius has been complaining about you not being here!_

Can't wait till you get back.

Enjoy the last day with your family

James.

She knew she had the biggest smile on her face but she didn't care. Every day that she had been gone, Lily and James wrote back and forth to one another. She felt sorry for Peggie and Apollo who had to make the journeys. There was once, James sent Max, Sirius' bird that she saw on that day in Diagon Alley.

Across the table from Lily was her mum, who was watching the smile on Lily's face form as she read whatever letter she had just received.

"Who is it from darling?" Hazel asked, "I haven't seen that particular owl before this week. It is Alice or Marlene?"

"Umm it's from James."

"As in James Potter, the arrogant bullying toerag?"

"Yes mum. But I told you the other day he's not like that anymore."

"Is there something - "

"Mum, no!" Lily interrupted her mum quickly.

"Okay, okay" Hazel said raising her hands, "just curious, that's all."

"So uh, dad's has been looking a lot better these past few days," Lily commented making an obvious change of subject.

"Yeah he has. I think it's because they told him that they could help control any issues. Plus he always loves it when you are home."

"I miss you guys too. I'll make sure when I return that I write more. Oh that reminds me, I need to send Apollo back to Hogwarts before I leave."

"What time will you be leaving?"

"As long as I leave before midnight I can leave whenever. So I was thinking after dinner. If that's okay?"

"Of course it is darling! We wouldn't have it any other way."

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

The rest of the day went by quickly for Lily. Dinner had passed and for a while Lily and her parents sat in their lounge room and just talked. Hazel tried to get more information about James out of Lily, but nothing worked.

At about 10 o'clock, when Lily saw her dad was getting tired anyway, she decided that it was probably time for her to leave.

She had already sent Apollo back to Hogwarts, so all she needed to do was grab her bag and say goodbye to her parents.

First her mum and then her dad, she wrapped her arms around their necks giving them a kiss on the cheek each.

"I love you both," she told them, "and just so you know I'll be sending letters, wanting regular updates. See you at Christmas."

Stepping into her fireplace, she heard both her parents say a final goodbye before she called out, "Hogwarts, heads' common room!" before throwing floo powder into the fireplace beneath her.

Everything spun, but it was over quickly and she was back in her common room. She tried to be quiet as she sorted herself but gave a start when she heard a voice.

"Welcome back."

"Oh hey there. Thanks. Sorry about the noise."

"No it's okay. I've just been reading."

When Lily looked properly she found that James was lying on the couch with a book in his hand.

"Oh I'll just leave you to that then," she said to him as she regathered her bag and started towards her room.

"No wait," he said quickly moving to make space on the couch, "sit with me. Well if you want to."

Smiling at James, she said, "Sure, I would love to. Just let me put my bag in my room."

She walked into her room and dropped her bag on her bed. She would deal with it later. Without a second thought, she joined James on the couch, sitting so she was facing him.

"So, umm thanks for putting up with all my letters." she said a bit awkwardly, not knowing what else to say.

"You're welcome. So how was it really?" James asked her, "I mean I know we wrote, but letters are different to hearing it in person."

"Umm, honestly, it was... I don't know... It was hard to be there... Petunia was too wrapped up in her wedding plans, while mum had to balance between dad and Petunia. And Petunia didn't even care!"

"And what about your dad?"

"Seeing him was so hard. He was just so weak. Though I think he actually looked a bit better by today. At least I thought so. He was even getting up and doing things, as much as we tried to make him rest."

"Well that's good then," James said giving Lily an encouraging smile.

"Yeah it is," she gave him a small smile back, "I just... I don't know what I would do, if anything happened."

Tears began to form in her eyes and she quickly rubbed them before he could see. But he did, and as she moved her hand back down, he leant across and held it.

Holding her hand, using his thumb to draw circles he said to her, "It won't. But if it does I'll be here for you. We all will be."

"Thank you James."

They continued talking for a while longer, into the early morning. Lily was tired, but she just didn't want to go to bed yet. If she was alone, she would imagine the worst possibilities.

She begun to yawn more frequently.

"Oh, I'm sorry for keeping you up late. You must be pretty tired," James said to her as he noticed her yawning.

"Yeah, I should probably head to bed. Goodnight James," she said as she stood up, moving towards her room.

Right before she got to her door, James said, "Hey Lily?"

She turned, "Yeah?"

"Iwasjustwonderingifyouwanttogotohogsmeade? With me?" He quickly said, obviously nervous.

"I'm sorry, but what?"

James took a deep breath and tried again, "Everything has been going really well between us, and I don't want to ruin it, but I was just wondering if you would like to go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend. It can just as friends if you want?"

To James, Lily's response took forever, though that wasn't the case. Even though his friends had told him to just try again, he was scared she would say no.

"Sure. I would love to," she responded, smiling, before walking into her room and closing the door behind her.

James figured he should probably head to bed too. He had only stayed up to see Lily. Going into his room, he knew there would be nothing that could wipe the grin off his face.

_She finally said yes._


	13. Chapter 13

**Hi everyone!**

**To all the new followers and those who have reviewed, thank you so much! I'm glad that you are all loving this :)**

**Enjoy this next chapter!**

**Black-lightningrunes x**

* * *

_Chapter 13_

"Wait so you asked her and she actually said yes?" Sirius asked for what seemed like the millionth time.

James sighed.

"Yes, she said yes. How many times do I need to tell you?"

The four of them were in the Great Hall eating breakfast. Since none of the girls had shown up yet, James had taken the opportunity to tell his friends that he asked like they told him to.

"I can't believe she finally said yes to you," Peter decided to butt in. He had been listening to the conversation but hadn't really contributed anything. "She's hated you for so long, think of all the hexes you've copped from her. Hey, remember that time when she -"

"Yes, yes okay. I get it. It's a surprise she said yes. But do we really have to bring that up?" James interrupted Peter. In response he got a grin from Peter.

Before anyone else could say anything, the girls joined them.

"What are you guys talking about?" Marlene asked as she sat down next to Sirius grabbing pancakes and pouring some pumpkin juice.

"Nothing," James responded quickly before any of his friends could say anything that would embarrass him.

Except the girls had already heard about James and Lily's date and figured that was exactly what they were talking about. While James tried not to look at Lily and go red in the face his friends, plus Alice and Marlene smirked at him catching him out on his lie. Lily however went bright red in the face.

"So what's everyone planning on doing at Hogsmeade on Saturday?" Sirius asked grinning at Lily.

"Sirius, don't..." James warned, "just leave it."

"Aw come on!"

"Sirius, you are such an idiot!" Marlene exclaimed at the same time Remus said to Lily, "Just ignore him."

"Hey! I was just asking a generalised question! It was not in anyway directed towards any particular flower. I mean person."

"Oh shut up Sirius," Lily snapped. She wasn't too harsh but she didn't want to put up with anything yet. Plus she hadn't had coffee yet.

"Oh, someone's feisty."

"Sirius, stop it. Just give it a rest," Remus warned him.

"Whatever," Lily said as she stood, "I'll see you in class."

"Lily, wait!" James called out as she walked away, he went to stand to follow her but two different hands tugged him back down. Looking down he saw both Remus and Alice holding him back.

"Just leave her," Remus told him.

"She just needs to calm a bit," Alice continued before turning to Sirius, "Why do you have to be such an idiot?"

"I didn't mean anything by it! I was just mucking around!"

"It's Lily, she's sensitive about things! Plus she wasn't going to want her saying yes to be made into a big deal. Which you made it into."

"Oh right."

Marlene just rolled her eyes at him, "You're so insensitive."

"I'll apologise when we get to class."

"That's right you will," both Marlene and Alice told him.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

As Lily walked out of the Great Hall, she knew she had overreacted and snapped at Sirius when she shouldn't have but she was tired, hadn't had her coffee yet and she really just didn't want their friends to make a big deal out of the fact that she said yes to James.

She however should have realised that they would, especially since she had been fighting him for so long.

Lily wasn't even sure why she had gotten so upset. She can usually take the small teasing from her friends, and it had even been a long time since she had 'fought' with the Marauders. Maybe she was going to have to apologise when she saw them in class.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

She arrived to the DADA classroom after all the others, and her usual seat had been saved for her. She walked over and joined them silently.

"Lily-flower! I'm sorry!" Sirius exclaimed as she sat down in the seat next to Alice in front of Sirius and James.

"No don't be," she told him, "I over reacted."

"Yeah but I shouldn't have started anything. I was just teasing but I took it too far."

"Seriously, it's okay. Look I'm sorry for over reacting."

"No it's okay. Thanks Lily."

Lily sat there quietly, while all the others continued talking as they waited for Professor Woods to arrive. She was yet another DADA teacher they had as in the past few years, they were unable to keep one for more than a year.

When she hurried in the classroom she began saying, "I'm so sorry everyone. Was caught up. Give me. Just give me a second."

From hurrying to the class from where ever she was, Professor Woods was out of breath. Taking a moment to catch her breath, she begun the class.

Unfortunately for the class, it was mainly a revision class of the past couple of lessons, which made it boring for some. Lily, however, appreciated this especially since she had missed a few being away visiting her family.

What excited the class was the announcement at the end of the class of what Professor Woods was planning on teaching them in the upcoming weeks. Patronuses.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

Their next class was Transfiguration. Together they all walked to the classroom. Although she had remained calm in DADA and accepted Sirius' apology, Lily remained silent. She had been asked multiple times whether or not she was okay.

She actually was, but she really didn't feel like talking at that time. She did feel a bit bad, especially since she knew they were thinking something was wrong. She was just lost in her thoughts – thinking about her father, and all the schoolwork she missed out on while she was away. Her DADA revision class, made her realise just how much she missed out on.

Right before they entered the class, James pulled Lily back, "I know you're sick of hearing this but seriously, is everything okay?"

"Yeah, just thinking about my dad. Plus I realised how much work I need to catch up on," she told him honestly.

"Don't worry. Seriously, it'll be okay. I'll help you of you need."

"Thank you James."

Together they walked into class and took their usual seats.

As the class started, Lily released she again had no idea what was happening and found herself completely lost right from the beginning of the class. She took notes dutifully, trying to understand what was going on. However halfway through the class, she started to get frustrated.

When class finished and Lily was packing up her belongings, she heard, "Miss Evans, can you wait one moment."

Moving to the front of the classroom she said, "Yes professor?"

"Welcome back. I hope your father is doing a bit better. I saw you getting a bit frustrated in class today. I know there is a lot to catch up on but I have complete faith in you. If you need anything at all, please come see me and definitely talk to your classmates. They'll be able to help you."

"I will and thank you Professor."

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

Friday came, and Lily was getting increasingly nervous about the next day.

"I mean it still hasn't been classified as a date of whether we're just having out!" she exclaimed as she sat in her room with Alice and Marlene.

As she was talking, Alice cast _muffliato_, so that if the boys were to walk into the common room they couldn't be heard.

"Lily, it _is_ a date," Marlene told her.

"But he went all like it can be as friends if you want. Then I just said yes and went to bed. So it might just be as friends!"

"Maybe it's a bit of both," Alice suggested.

"Huh?" Both Lily and Marlene looked at her, confused expressions on their faces.

"Well think about it. Lily, you weren't going to do anything one you figured out that you liked him because you didn't know if he liked you, plus you have just become friends. Then he hasn't asked you out this year because he's changed. But more than that, you are _friends_ so now that he's finally made progress with you he doesn't want to ruin it."

"Yeah, and?"

"Well you both don't want to ruin anything, but you both want to move forward. So tomorrow will be you two trying to see where you both stand."

Frustrated, Lily made a complaining noise before saying, "Stop making so much sense! But seriously, what am I going to do? What should I wear?"

"First off," Marlene began, "you are going to calm down. Tomorrow is going to be fantastic, you're just nervous right now. But trust us, everything will be great. Just think of it hanging out, just like you do everyday. You share a common area with him! You've spent time with him when we're not there before. It will be exactly like that.

"And secondly," Alice joined in, "clothing is easy. Wear something that looks great but is normal. There's no need to go over the top."

"Like?"

"I don't know, jeans with boots, cute top and scarf with your coat."

"How about we stay here tonight and help you get ready in the morning?" Marlene suggested.

"Could you? That would be awesome!"

Once Lily had calmed down a bit the girls decided to go into the common room and sit in front of the fire.

There the girls found the boys all sitting around already.

"Hey!" Peter called out as he saw the girls exit Lily's room.

"Hi there!" Marlene said as she planted herself on James since there were no other seats.

As soon as she sat down, James tickled Marlene causing her to scream and slide away off his lap landing on the floor.

"Ow! Okay, I get it! I won't sit on you!"

"Thank you," James said grinning at her.

"Lily," Remus said.

"Yeah?" she responded as she sat down on the floor near the fire facing everyone else.

"Just so you know, we're stealing James tonight."

"Stealing him?"

"Yup stealing," Sirius confirmed.

"Is that okay?" James asked her, "I mean that means you'll be in here by yourself."

"Whipped," Sirius coughed earning him a slap from both James and Remus while Peter laughed.

"Actually Lily won't be alone," Alice told them, "we're staying here tonight. We actually came out to see of you would have an issue with that. But seems like that won't be an issue anymore."

"Nope, that won't be a problem. Wouldn't have been anyway," James told her.

"Awesome. Thanks James."

Time passed and together they headed down to dinner. It wasn't until after dinner they went their separate ways. Saying goodnight the boys went to the Gryffindor common room, while the girls headed back to Lily's room.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

"Wake up! Wake up!"

As she heard a noise from above her, Lily groggily opened her eyes. Covering her view was Marlene and Alice, both standing over her with Cheshire cat grins.

"Eurgh, leave me alone!" Lily complained as her eyes adjusted to the blinding light coming from the windows.

"But it's time to make you absolutely gorgeous for today," Marlene said as she pulled the covers off of Lily, who squealed out.

"Oi! Give them back!"

"No! Come on Lily! Alice and I have already started planning on what you'll wear but we need you input! So hurry up! Go have a shower and we'll have the clothes all laid out for you.

Grudgingly, Lily moved off her bed, shoving her friends as she moved past them.

After a quick shower, Lily returned to find her bed made with her friends sitting on the corners while clothes were laid out.

"Okay, so you need to look gorgeous but you can't go over the top. Plus it's freezing out there!"

"Well what about these jeans, this jumper and that coat," Lily said as she pointed out the clothes she thought would work well together. "and then I'll wear my boots," she added.

"Perfect!" Alice exclaimed, "Now go get ready!"

Grabbing her chosen clothes, she went back into the bathroom to get changed.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

James and the others were siting in the Great Hall eating breakfast. It's usually straight after breakfast that they can start heading into the village, but as head boy and girl, he and Lily would have to help Filch with making sure the third years all hand their forms in and everyone else puts their name on the list.

As they sat waiting, James' leg bounced up in down nervously. He didn't know what to expect of the day. Whether it was a date or not, he still wanted the day to be perfect and to show Lily who he truly was. Though he knew she was seeing that already, today had to be extra special.

"Calm down James," Remus told him, "everything will be great today. You'll see."

"But Moony, I don't even know what today is even classified as!"

"From what I've heard from Marlene and Alice, Lily has been the exact same. Why do you think the girls stayed with her last night!"

"The same reason I did. It's been forever since we've spent time with you guys since getting our own room."

"That may be true, but it's definitely not the only reason."

"Uh, you guys might want to shut up now," Sirius interrupted them, "they just entered the Great Hall."

Looking across, James saw Alice, Lily and Marlene entering the hall, heading towards them. His eyes widened when he saw Lily. She looked beautiful in his eyes. She hadn't gone over the top, which made James feel a bit better, but she still looked amazing.

She was wearing a pair of dark blue jeans, which hugged her figure but weren't ridiculously tight, a deep purple knitted jumper with a long blank singlet that you could see beneath. Slung over her arm was a puffy coat.

"Hi there," she said nervously to James and smiling at the others.

"Hi there yourself," he responded sliding across making room for her and the girls to sit down.

"Oh don't be so awk- never mind," Marlene begun saying but stopped herself as she caught the look Lily was giving her.

Lily distracted herself, avoiding everyone's eyes by getting herself a piece of toast and coffee. If she was going to make it through breakfast, with Sirius most likely passing comments, she was going to need a lot of coffee.

Also eager to avoid any embarrassment James quickly turned to the girls and asked, "So what do you girls plan on doing today?"

"Well I'm going to spend some time with this one," Alice answered indicating Marlene, "but then I'll be with Frank for most of the day."

"That sounds good," James said, "what about you Marlene?"

"Well since you'll be with Lily and Alice with Frank I think I'll be tagging along with these three idiots," she responded nodding towards Sirius who was completely oblivious, stuffing his face with eggs and bacon.

Lily laughed at this causing to Sirius to look up from his from his food. His cheeks were puffed, stuffed with food, which caused everyone to laugh at him.

"What?" he asked, his voice muffled by the food.

"Don't worry Padfoot just keep eating," Remus told him.

"But I wanna know!" he complained.

"Don't worry you aren't the only the who doesn't know," Remus nodded towards Peter who had just looked up, noticed everyone looking at him shrugged and looked back down.

"Lily we should probably go meet Professor McGonagall and Filch," James said, noticing the time.

"Sure," she said smiling at him before turning to the others, "see you guys later."

Together, James and Lily walked out and headed towards the gate.

After standing in the cold for around half an hour as they helped collect permission forms and make sure no one tried to sneak through, Professor McGonagall finally let them go.

"Enjoy your day," she had told then with a knowing smile on her face.

Walking down the path towards Hogsmeade, neither Lily nor James had said anything yet. It wasn't that the silence was awkward, but both were so nervous that they weren't really sure what to say.

The weather was getting to Lily as they walked and even though she was wearing her coat the cold was still effecting her. She brought her arms up and crossed them across her body.

James looked across at her, "Are you cold?" he asked.

"Yeah, I am."

"Would you like to head to the Three Broomsticks? Warm up a bit."

"Sure, that sounds great," she smiled at him.

They moved quickly to the Three Broomsticks which turned out to be quite full when they arrived. It seemed a lot of people had the same idea to warm up with some butterbeer. Luckily they were able to find a table for two in the back corner, away from people.

Taking off his jacket and hanging it over the back of the chair he asked Lily what she would like.

"Just a butter beer would be nice," she said as she went to grab her purse to give him money.

"No. Don't worry about it. It's on me," he said refusing her money.

Before she could argue any further he walked away to go get the drinks.

While he was getting the drinks, Lily took her coat off and sat down.

Looking around she observed what was happening around her. There were a few dates, third years trying butter beer for the first time and across the opposite side of the room was Marlene and the other Marauders. Catching Marlene's eyes Lily shook her head exasperated but smiled nonetheless.

"Here you go," Lily heard James' voice. Turning back James was placing the two drinks on the table.

"Thank you," she said picking up the drink and taking a sip. The drink warmed her up instantly.

"We're being watched," she told him.

"Huh?"

In response she turned her head in the direction of their friends. Following her gaze, he too spotted the others who were now all looking and smiling at them not even trying to hide themselves.

"Of course," he laughed rolling his eyes.

"You aren't annoyed?" Lily asked.

"Nah. Are you?"

"No. I kind of expected it from them."

"Exactly."

"Mmhm. So you've heard so much about me and my family and stuff tell me about yours," Lily requested.

"Well... I'm and only child, unless you count Sirius who now lives with my family. Well I consider all the guys my brothers but I figure you realised that. So you've met my parents, Linda and Nathan, both aurors and both simply amazing. I couldn't ask for better parents. They never really spoiled me but they always looked after me. I talk to them about everything too."

"Wow that sounds so good," Lily said smiling, "I loved your parents when I met them. They were so kind, especially your mum. My parents were so grateful that she had looked after my leg. I was too. My parents would have freaked if I walked in the house like that. They used to freak when I came home with bruises on my knees. Well until they realised I was both a tomboy and prone to falling."

"What was it like? I mean growing up as a muggle and then to find out the truth."

"Well I went to school, and had a few friends but not many. My best friend was Petunia. We used to be so close. Not knowing what I was, I could do some pretty weird things. I could make flower petals open and close in my hand, cause the wind to blow leaves in a certain direction, and make doors slam when I was mad without actually touching the door. It was cool but a bit scary. Freaked my parents out completely, but as soon as Professor McGonagall visited to tell us about the magical world they understood more and really loved the idea. Let's just say I performed a lot of accidental magic."

James laughed at her, "I always knew you were a rebel!"

"I swear it wasn't my fault!" she laughed along with him.

"Excuses, excuses!"

"Shut up! What about you, mister I grew up knowing about magic."

"Let's just say it has it's ups and down."

"What do you mean?" Lily asked honestly curious.

"Well I mean it's pretty awesome growing up in a magical home. Sure to me it's always just been 'normal' but it's always was amazing seeing the spells in action. But knowing about magic meant it was expected to be extra careful about magic. Sure it was okay, since of course you can't really control it, but you had to be careful since you were aware of it."

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

"No, no, no! You cannot seriously believe that!" Lily exclaimed as she and James walked towards Honeydukes.

"Yes! The Rolling Stones are so much better than the Beatles!"

"No, just no way. The Beatles are classic! Hey Jude, Here Comes the Sun, Hello Goodbye! They are all such good songs!"

"Yeah they're good, but just not as good."

"Whatever Potter, your delirious."

James in response just rolled his eyes at Lily, deciding not to respond. He instead rush forward to the door of Honeydukes holding the door open for Lily.

"Ladies first."

"Why thank you," she said smiling walking past him and into the warmth of the shop.

As soon as she entered, the smell of the delicious sweets surrounded her.

"Anything particular you want?" James asked.

"Umm not really, the usual really. But I've gotta buy some stuff to send home. My parents love it."

Before long, Lily and James were finished in the shop. They both had bags containing Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans, nougat, Chocolate Frogs, fudge and sugar quills.

"You really shouldn't have paid for all this," Lily told James indicating to the sweets in her bags.

"Nonsense, I don't mind at all."

"I notice that. But please let me pay you back."

"Nope. I won't accept your money. My parents always brought me up that when I'm out, I pay. Even with the guys. Not that they really let me..."

"See they don't let you, so I won't either," Lily said stubbornly as she held out money.

"Nope, not taking it!" James said crossing his arms across his body.

"And they say I'm stubborn!"

" Ah but you are Lily-flower," Lily heard from the other side of her. As she heard the voice, an arm flung around her.

"Really Sirius? Oh hi there guys!" she said spotting Remus and Peter on the other side of Sirius.

"Yeah, hi Lily. Sorry about this," Remus said to her, also talking to James, "I couldn't stop him from coming over,"

"Of course you couldn't," James said, slapping Sirius across the back of the head.

"Oi! What was that for?"

"You know exactly what," James told him.

"Whatever. Were you two heading back to the Great Hall for dinner?"

At this James looked across at Lily, who just shrugged and nodded. They hadn't exactly figured out what they were going to do yet, but it was getting to the time where the students had to start heading back to the castle.

"Sure let's go."

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

Although they all remained in the Great Hall for a while, time seemed to pass quickly for Lily. She could tell that both Alice and Marlene were sitting there impatiently wanting to ask Lily how the day had gone however, for most of the time Lily and James were caught up in their own little world talking with one another.

Without saying anything, they both decided to head back to their common room. Although Lily and James had been off in their own world, they had noticed that their friends were paying close enough attention while trying to make it seem like they weren't. Together the two stood, "We're going to go. See you guys tomorrow."

Hearing farewells from their friends. They left the Great Hall.

Getting back to their common room they hung their coats over the back of the couch. They both stood there, looking at one another.

"James," Lily begun breaking the silence, "today was great, I really enjoyed it."

James couldn't help but smile back at her. He was lost looking in her emerald green eyes.

"So did I, Lily. I'm glad you finally said yes."

"Me too."

She smiled up at him and watched him as he moved that little bit closer to her.

Then she felt his lips on hers.


	14. Chapter 14

_Chapter 14_

* * *

_She smiled up at him and watched him as he moved that little bit closer to her.  
Then she felt his lips on hers._

* * *

The feeling of his lips on her was soft and she could taste the sweets that they had bought from Honeydukes. Before the kiss could be deepened, he pulled away from her. As much as he wanted to keep kissing her, he didn't want her to feel like he was pressuring her.

When he pulled back, he knew he had the biggest smile on his face but honestly he didn't care. Looking at Lily, he saw that she too actually had a smile on her face which made him only beam more.

They stared at each other, one lost in emerald green eyes the other in a deep brown.

As much as she loved staring into his eyes, instead of being the one watching the other move closer, Lily decided to take matters into her own hands. She hadn't wanted the kiss to stop, so she decided to take matters into her own hands. Standing on her toes, she wrapped her arms around his neck pulling him closer to her. She planted her lips on to his.

James was shocked at first, not expecting Lily to kiss him back. After his moment of shock passed, he kissed her back eagerly.

Their mouths moved in sync with one another and while they kissed, Lily's hands moved into James' hair.

Gripping his hair she felt him moan in the back his throat. Lily never realised that kissing someone could feel like this. Then somewhere in the back of her mind she realised that she didn't want to go so fast. Sure kissing was okay, more than okay, but they just had their first date. Which up until earlier she hadn't been sure whether they were going as just friends or if it was actually going to be a date.

She pulled away from him, moving her hands down to his chest. She leant her forehead against him.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled.

"What? What for?" James asked her.

"Because..."

James put his hand underneath Lily's chin, pulling it up so she was looking at him. As he looked down at her he watched as she tried to avoid looking in his eyes.

"Because why?"

"Because... I don't know. I pulled away."

"You're allowed to pull away Lily," he said as he cupped his hand against her face, stroking her cheek with his thumb.

"If you don't want to do something, I won't force you into it. It's not a big deal"

"Thanks James," she said smiling meekly, "it's just we only just went on our first date today. I don't want to rush."

"It's okay. Here come with me."

Taking Lily by the hand, he dragged her around to sit on the couch in front of the fire. Sitting down and making himself comfortable by stretching along the couch, he pulled Lily down so she was sitting between his legs with her back against his body. As soon as she stopped moving he wrapped his arms around her, whispering into her ear, "Is this okay?"

"It's better than okay," she said pulling his hand up and kissing it. Afterwards, she moved their hands back down to where they had been resting on her stomach but kept her hand holding his.

"I swear I never thought this could happen," James told her.

"This?"

"This," he said waving his arm indicating the two of them, "us. You and me. I mean sure I've always dreamed it and wanted it, but there were some times I honestly thought it would never happen."

"Well I can be pretty stubborn."

"You don't say," James joked, "it's okay. I mean, I got there eventually."

"That you did," she told him snuggling closer to him, turning herself so she can place the side of head against him like a pillow.

"So what does this mean?" he asked her.

"Huh, what do you mean?"

"You and me... Okay this isn't coming out right. What I'm trying to get at here is... Will you go out with me, as in officially be my girlfriend?"

"Hmm I don't know… I might have to think about it."

She looked up at him and grinned.

He feigned being shocked at her response.

"Yes," was all she had to say.

Delicately, he lifted her chin and kissed her lips softly.

Leaning back into him, they stayed like this until they both fell asleep.

* * *

~~~/~~~~

* * *

Waking up, Lily was extremely comfortable. Sometime during the night, she and James rolled over so that Lily was between the back of the couch and James. Both of James' arms were wrapped around her still.

Since it was Sunday morning, Lily was in no hurry to get up. Plus where she was currently situated, there was no chance of getting up properly without waking James.

Wriggling her body, she needed to move in some way as her body was becoming stiff from lying still. As she did so, her movement caused James to also move. Rolling over, away from Lily, he ended up rolling off the couch.

Unfortunately for Lily, as James rolled his grip around Lily tightened causing her to be pulled down with him.

Letting out a yelp, Lily landed flat on James.

"Ow," James mumbled, his eyes still closed as he was still partially asleep.

Lily, trying to get up ended up pressing against James causing his eyes to shoot open.

"What? Huh. Ow. Uh Lily?" James said, confusion obvious in his voice.

"Hold on, let me get up," she told him.

Having a bit more freedom since James was awake and had moved his arms, Lily was able to move to push herself off the ground. But before she could lift herself up onto the couch, arms snaked around her waist pulling her back down.

"James!" she exclaimed as she fell back down on top of him.

"Morning," he said as he moved the hair out of her face, and his.

"Good morning to you too," she smiled at him, making himself comfortable, lying down next to James, "so why are we lying down here anyway?"

"Because I feel like it," he told her, "plus I woke up down here so I don't want to actually get up yet. Why is it that I woke up down here?"

"Well we were both on the couch, until you rolled over the wrong way, falling off the couch pulling me with you."

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

For most of the morning they remained lying on the floor, laughing and talking with one another. Breakfast was finishing up meaning there would be little to no food in the Great Hall.

However, Lily's stomach began to grumble as she realised how hungry she was.

James laughed from hearing it, "Come on, let's go get you some food."

He stood pulling her up with him.

Together they walked through the halls hand and hand. To the most part the hallways were empty, only passing one or two people who weren't really noticing what was going on around them.

Stopping in front of a painting of a fruit bowl, James, using his hand that wasn't holding Lily's, tickled the pear.

An entrance opened and he pulled Lily through.

"Mister James!" a tiny house elf exclaimed as he ran towards them, "how is you? Miss Lily! It has been so long."

Lily knelt down so she was face to face with the house elf, "Hi Millie, I'm very sorry. I've been very busy. I promise I'll try and see you some more."

As she spoke, James looked down at her curious. She turned and looked up and him with a smile on her face.

"First the room of requirement now the kitchens, you always seem to amaze me Evans."

"I'm full of surprises."

"That you are," he mumbled under his breath, so quietly that Lily only just heard it.

"So what can Millie do for you?"

"Lily here is a bit hungry, could you get us some pancakes please?" James said to Millie.

"Of course!" she exclaimed as she ran off to get the food for the two.

They sat down on stools next to a bench in the center of the room.

James absent mindlessly grabbed Lily's hand, playing with it as he asked, "So do I get to find out how you discovered the kitchens?"

"Um, well..." she began sheepishly, "I may or may not have overheard you, Sirius, Remus and Peter talking one time in fifth year and I was curious. Eventually I stumbled across the right painting and found my way through. From that day on it made it easier for me plus along with the room of requirement it became my escape. Where do you think I ran to after that day... You know, by the lake. I was in desperate need of chocolate," she told him.

He knew exactly what day she was talking about. The one where he had provoked Snape so much that in the end the most harm happened to Lily. The day her best friend since before Hogwarts called her a mudblood.

"You know, I'm really sorry about that," he told her.

"There's no need to be," she said earnestly, "it was never your fault."

"Well, it kind of was. I mean it was because of me you were defending him."

"Sure, but it wasn't your fault he said it. You didn't tell him to say it. I never blamed you."

"So chocolate, hey? Been speaking with Moony?" James said, clearly changing the subject.

"Yup chocolate and coffee. Actually I could do with a coffee now."

"Sure. Millie!" he called out.

Hearing her name the tiny elf rushed around the corner.

"Your pancakes will be ready soon!" she said.

"No, no don't rush," Lily told her, "I was just hoping I could get a coffee please."

"Of course miss Lily!" she said rushing away before returning a moment later with a steaming cup in her hand.

"Here you go miss Lily, exactly how you like it! Can I get you anything Mister James?"

"No thank you, Millie."

When the pancakes were brought out to them, Lily and James sat in a comfortable silence eating. Every so often they would look at one another and simply smile, both still not believing that they were together.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

Although they had a late breakfast, together Lily and James walked to the Great Hall. They knew their friends would be there and would be waiting for them, especially since they hadn't appeared at breakfast.

Hand in hand, they began passing more people in the hallways. Some noticing the two, stopped and stared obvious shock on their faces.

As soon as they took a step into the Great Hall one distinct voice filled the entire hall.

"WELL IT'S ABOUT TIME!"

Sitting further down the hall at the Gryffindor table were Lily and James' friends. Sirius was now standing, grinning at Lily and James who were slowly walking towards their friends.

Sirius calling out had caused all heads to turn his way. They then turned and followed his line of sight to the new couple walking down towards Sirius and the others.

The whispers began immediately, and Lily self consciously looked down and moved faster, dragging James with her.

The moment they sat down they were able to see their friends properly. All of them had Cheshire cat grins on their faces.

"So... Yesterday went pretty well then?" Marlene asked them, the grin not leaving her face.

"No, it went terribly," James told her sarcastically.

Ignoring James' sarcasm, Alice asked them, "Just out of curiosity, when did you make you to official? Yesterday or today?"

"Umm, yesterday, when we went back to our dorm," Lily responded.

"Hmm, wait what was yesterday?" Alice asked facing towards the others, obviously trying to not look towards Lily and James.

"Yesterday would have been exactly a month," Remus answered, before a smile spread across his face.

"And what exactly does that mean," James asked, his eyes narrowing.

"It means that a few people need to pay up," Alice added, also grinning.

"Guys really?" Lily asked, shaking her head.

"Yup," Alice said popping the 'p', "hey you guys did it to me!"

"Heh, true. It's all good though because I won that one. So who won this?"

"Me," both Alice and Remus said at the same time.

"Wait, wait. I am not paying up twice!" Sirius complained.

"You have to," Remus told him, "both Alice and I had said three to four weeks and four to five weeks. Both having the four means we were the closest. So pay up."

Grudgingly, Sirius along with Frank and Marlene payed the galleons they owed.

"Best day ever," Alice said laughing.

"I agree," Lily said smiling as she grabbed James' hand underneath the table and put her head on her shoulder.

"Oh I can just see it! You two are going to be sickening," Sirius mocked them.

"Shut up, Padfoot!" James said but the corners of his mouth had lifted.

Lily couldn't help but not remain quiet and watch her friends. All the joking and mucking around made her smile. Leaning on James' shoulder she never thought things would be like this. It all felt natural. No more yelling and fighting. No more bitching about the marauders or listening to Marlene and Alice telling her how wrong she was about them. Since now she could admit how wrong she truly was. She was finally happy and at that moment things, such as her father's illness and the deaths in the papers, were far away from the front of her mind. At least for now.

* * *

**Hi! :)**

**Another chapter which I hope you have all enjoyed. **

**I'm sorry it's shorter than usual! I was thinking about continuing it, but it was going to take longer, plus I really like where I finished it..**

**Let me know what you think? :)**

**Black-lightningrunes x**


	15. Chapter 15

_Chapter 15:_

The news that Lily Evans and James Potter were dating had circulated the school, and for those who hadn't seen it yet, they waited patiently for their proof.

By the time Lily and James walked into the Great Hall, most of the school was already sitting down eating, including some of the professors.

Once more having to ignore the whispers, the two walked quickly down to where Remus and Alice were. Right before he sat down, James looked up and the professors and caught Professor McGonagall's eye. She smiled and nodded her head. James smiled back.

"Well Professor McGonagall approves," he said sitting down.

"Of course she does," Alice told him, "along with us, she and many others were probably waiting for this to finally happen."

"Shh okay. Anyway, where is everyone else?" Lily asked, since she knew it was because of her it had taken so long for her and James to be together.

"Um upstairs still. They were taking so long that Alice and I decided to come down without them," Remus responded.

"So Captain, you finally managed to win her over?" a voice said from behind them.

Turning, James found Christine Webb, the Gryffindor seeker, standing behind him smiling.

"Yeah I did."

Christine turned to Lily, "It wasn't enough that the whole school knew he liked you and had heard pretty much all of your fights, you should have heard him and Sirius in the change rooms and during practice. I swear it was like every sing-"

James stood quickly, covering Christine's mouth with his hand, interrupting what she was saying.

"Uh yeah just ignore her," James told Lily, who was now looking at him, her eyes wide trying to raise an eyebrow at him.

Behind James' hand, Lily could still hear Christine mumbling.

It was at that moment that James yelped pulling his hand away from Christine and wiping it against his pants.

"Seriously did you have to lick me?" he asked her.

While Lily and Remus laughed, Christine said, "Well I was telling you I was going to do that or bite you, but you weren't listening to me."

"Shut up Christine," James said as he tried glaring at her but couldn't help but laugh.

Christine laughed too.

"See you later captain, I have to go answer all my friends questions now. Probably all about you two," she said nodding her head in the direction of all her friends who were staring at them, before turning on her heels and walking away with a small wave."

"So what kind of stuff did you and Sirius talk about?" Lily asked James as soon as he sat down.

"Um, well..."

Both Lily and Remus looked at him, waiting for and answer. Remus however was trying not to laugh. His lips were tight together but the corners were lifting slightly. He knew there was no way James was getting out of this one.

"Yes?" Lily encouraged as she waited for his answer.

"So um. Well... Oh hi guys!" he said as the others all approached them.

"Hi! I'm starving!" Marlene exclaimed as she sat down, immediately piling food onto a plate.

"Where were you guys?" James asked as Sirius and Peter also joined them. As he turned his attention towards them he tried to avoid Lily's eye, he however saw her rolling her eyes.

_Oh god I'm going to cop it later_, he thought to himself.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

The classes throughout the day passed by quickly. Charms, Ancient Runes, DADA.

The last class of the day was Transfiguration. After every class that James and Lily had together, Lily swore that the Professors were all smiling at them, happy that the two were together.

Lily, however, assumed that it was just because now they were together there would be no more screaming fights between the two or no more hexes that they would have to deal with.

It was Professor McGonagall who surprised both James and Lily the most.

Class had just finished and everyone was packing up to leave.

"Mister Potter, Miss Evans a word please," Professor McGonagall called as some of the students began walking out the door.

"Meet us in the Gryffindor common room," James told Sirius, who responded by nodding before walking out with the others.

Together the two walked up to Professor McGonagall's desk where she was sitting, head down, reading from a piece of parchment. Although they had stopped in front of her desk, she still hadn't looked up at them.

"So how are the Head duties going?" she asked them, finally looking up at them.

"Umm, good thank you," James said uncertainly.

"We have a meeting with Professor Dumbledore after dinner and so far we've kept the same duties since the start of the year. We'll change it around at the next meeting which will be soon. We've been waiting to meet with Professor Dumbledore. Plus no issues have been brought to us, yet," Lily continued.

"Sounds as if the two of you are working extremely well together," Professor McGonagall said with a knowing smile.

"Yeah we do," James said grinning as Lily bumped into his side.

"Well I'm glad you two finally found your way to each other," she said smiling at the two, "with perfect timing as well."

"Professor?" James asked, wondering what McGonagall meant.

"Let's just say a few teachers had a small wager going..." she trailed off.

"Oh no! Not you too!" Lily exclaimed as her face went bright red.

James, who was laughing, asked, "So I'm guessing you won?"

In response, he received a smile before the two were told that their friends would be waiting for them.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

"So it turns out you guys aren't the only ones who had a bet on how long it would take for us to get together," James told their friends as he and Lily made it to the Gryffindor common room dafter their talk with Professor McGonagall.

"Huh, what do you mean? And what did McGonagall want?" Remus asked.

"Well, first she asked how things were going as head boy and girl. Then she commented on us bring together saying that it was perfect timing. Seems as if a bunch of teachers had a bet going as well," Lily replied.

"Oh yeah? And who won?" Marlene asked.

"McGonagall," James grinned, as the others all burst out laughing.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

Up until dinner, the group had sat in front of the fire with their books in front of them. Joined by Mary and Frank, they completed whatever work they had to get done and study they had to, while at the same time enjoying being all together.

After they ate the group separated. While most of them went back to the Gryffindor tower, Lily and James had their meeting with Dumbledore.

"Caramel Toffee," James said to the statue leading to Dumbledore's office.

Together, they walked up the spiral staircase, which lead to the office door. Before holding his hand up to the door, James went to knock. However, before he even managed to start knocking on the door, from the inside both James and Lily heard, "Come in."

Smiling at one another they opened the door and walked inside.

"Hello Professor," Lily said to Dumbledore politely.

"Welcome both of you. Please take a seat," he replied as he held out his arm, indicating the two seats in front of his desk.

"How is it Professor, that you always know someone is at that door before they knock? James asked as he pulled out a seat for Lily and took his own.

"That is my secret, Mister Potter," Dumbledore said to him, the usual sparkle in his clear blue eyes present.

"Aww come on sir!" James complained.

Shaking his head exasperated, Dumbledore smiled at James, "You'll learn one day. But until then, I will always know when you have gotten up to some mischief and have been sent here."

Lily watched on the exchange in amusement. She figured that over the many years, James must have ended up in Professor Dumbledore's office many a times for all of his pranks on people. She could positively say that some of those pranks would have been played on her and Severus.

While James was thinking of a response to Dumbledore, Dumbledore decided to get the meeting started.

"So, what do we need to approach tonight in this meeting?" he pondered, "How have your meetings with the prefects been going?"

"Okay, we've had the reports from them come in. Nothing too bad has happened so far. Does help that the usual pranksters have cut back this year," Lily responded to the Professor, while looking across at James as she finished talking with the corners of her lips curling up.

"Hey!" James exclaimed as Dumbledore chuckled.

"Yes well. I must admit it is nice not having to send letters home to your parents James."

"I think they appreciate it too."

"I'm sure they would. And how are the prefects going. The patrols? Have you got them organised? Have you any ideas?"

"Prefects and the meetings have been good so far. We have a few ideas but nothing set yet. Patrols haven't changed since the beginning of the year. We were thinking of redoing them soon, but not sure. Have you any suggestions?" James asked.''

"The timing may remain the same for the time being, and I have seen the way you have organised the patrols and I agree, It is your choice whether you change it or not. The only thing I wish to suggest is maybe adding some house unity. To try and encourage it."

"We'll see what we can do sir," Lily told him

"I know you will. Now that will be all, I believe."

"Yes sir, Thank you, " both James and Lily said before standing up and leaving the office.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

Unfortunately, straight after their meeting with Professor Dumbledore they had to take over for the late patrol before curfew.

They found Alice ad Remus easily, walking down one of the 6th floor hallways.

Saying both a hello and goodbye, James and Lily watched their friends walk away, heading towards the staircase for the seventh floor.

As they walked around, Lily was tired. There was little conversation and fortunately for Lily, there was no trouble.

When the hour was up, they walked back to their common room.

"So I was thinking," Lily began. She had remained standing while James had gone and sat on the couch.

"Yeah?"

"You never actually answered me this morning."

_Shit. She remembered_, James thought to herself.

"What are you talking about?" He asked aloud, trying to make it sound like he was confused.

"Oh I think you know. Talk at your Quidditch practices."

"Oh that."

"Yes that. Well?"

"Well what?"

"Are you going to tell me?"

"Nope."

"Okay," Lily said simply.

"Wait okay? That's all you have to say?"

"Yeah. I know you aren't going to tell me."

"Umm… Yeah… Trust me you don't want to know. Come sit down," he told her.

"No thanks, I'm really tired so I'm going to bed," she said, walking past him without stopping.

"What, no kiss? Or even a hug?" James joked.

"I don't think you deserve one," she said.

Walking across to her door before going into her room she turned around to find James watching her. She winked at him and gave him a smile.

James knew that she wasn't mad at him or anything but that smile was clear. She would get him back somehow.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

Waking up early, Lily remembered she hadn't yet written to her parents since returning to see how her father was going.

Grabbing some spare parchment from her pile of books, she began writing her letter.

_Mum and Dad,_

How are you both? I already miss you so much.

Dad, how are you feeling? Have you heard anything new? Please remember to keep me updated!

Petunia with her wedding plans, how are they going?

I have some news. I now have a boyfriend. James Potter. You remember him right? The one you probably heard the worst about every year. Well it turns out he isn't that bad. Yes Mum I know you had one of your "feelings" when I was writing to him while I was yes you were right. I can even see that smug look from here!

I love you both lots,  
Lily

Satisfied with what she wrote, Lily put some warmer clothes and slipped her shoes on.

The hallways were quiet as no one was up yet. Pulling her jacket closet, Lily made her way up the stairs to the owlery. When due walked in she noticed that she wasn't the only one there.

In the corner, feeding a few of the owls was Perrie Lynch.

"Hi Perrie," Lily said, letting the other girl know she was there.

Jumping, Perrie spun quickly at the sound of Lily's voice.

"Who the hell! Lilt don't scare my like that!" she exclaimed when she saw who it was.

Laughing at her friend's reaction, Lily said, "Sorry! I thought it would be better that way instead of coming close!"

"well yeah but still! I didn't expect anyone to be here this early."

"true. Neither did I. So how have you been?" Lily asked.

Since Lily visited her parents she hadn't really spoken to Perrie. Just the small conversations in class here and there.

"Pretty good actually. N.E.W.T's are killing me though."

"Yeah same here. I'm a bit behind after last week."

"Lily Evans behind in classes? Would have never thought that possible," Perrie joked.

"Ha ha. Well honestly I wouldn't have thought it either."

"So how is you father?" Perrie asked seriously.

When Lily returned, in one of their conversations Lily explained how she had gone home because of her dad.

"Last I heard doing okay. This letter here," she said holding up the parchment, "is another check in with them to see how everything is going."

"Ah okay. And James? Do they know yet?"

"Nope," Lily grinned, "also in this letter. The reply will be... Interesting."

"Of course it would be. Your dad will become very protective. You do realise that?"

Perrie had met Lily's parents before as she had gone to Lily's house a few times in the past summers.

"Yup. That is exactly why I told them in the letter. So I wouldn't have to see their reactions."

Perrie simply laughed.

"Also I think my mum already knows kind of," Lily continued.

"How so?" Perrie asked curious.

"Well the entire time I was at home, every day James and I wrote to one another."

"Aw you two are adorable! I always knew there was something there. Too much sexual tension," Perrie said, winking at Lily.

"Yes, well that's what everyone seems to be telling me."

"Seriously Lily. It's so true. Though I'm glad you finally came around."

"Trust me. So am I. My parents always told me I was a stubborn child."

Perrie laughed at Lily, "Yes, well we all already knew that one Lily. Well at least James is so persistent."

"True."

By this time, Lily had walked further into the owlery and called Peggie over to her. As they had spoken, Lily had attached her letter to her owl's foot and sent her on her way.

Perrie, also seemingly done in the owlery walked back to the castle along side Lily.

They spoke the entire time, laughing at catching up probably and discussing their ideas for the future and what they wanted to do after their N.E.W.T's.

Both were looking at Ministry work, but Lily told Perrie about her interest in healing and perhaps working at St. Mungo's.

When they had to go their separate ways, Perrie back to the Ravenclaw tower and Lily to her common room, the girls gave one another a hug, both deciding that they would do a weekly study session together, since they did nearly every subject together.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

Entering back into her common room, Lily found James sitting on the couch reading some book.

"Hey you," he said without looking up from his book.

"Good morning to you too," she said moving closer and sitting down next to him.

"So where were you?" he asked as he put his book down.

"I was sending a letter to my parents then I ran into Perrie so we spoke for a bit."

"Ah okay."

"Yeah. So reading anything interesting?" she asked indicating the book he had just placed on the table.

"Just a transfiguration book. Definitely not as interesting as you," he told her wrapping his arms around her pulling her close to him, so that she was partially sitting on him.

"So am I forgiven now?" James asked her.

"You may be. I haven't completely decided yet."

The angle she was sitting in, was extremely uncomfortable as James has pulled her into him at an odd angle. She hadn't objected to being closer, but she wanted to be more comfortable. Wriggling herself away from James' arms, she spun her self around so that she was straddling him.

"This is better," she told him, placing her hands on his chest.

"Oh is it now?" James smirked, putting his hand on her waist.

"Yup," she told him before leaning forward putting her lips onto his.

Their lips melded together perfectly. Lily gripped his shirt, trying to pull herself closer. James responding to Lily snaked his arms around her back, pulling her as close to him as he possibly could.

Lily was enjoying it, loved the feeling on his lips on hers. All she wanted to do was move as close as she could to him. But there was a time little nagging voice in the back of her head.

She pulled back, and the two locked eyes.

"Are you...?" James was cut off. He was going to ask if she was okay, but her lips touched to his and he was silent immediately.

"I'm more than okay," she whispered as their lips still touched one another.

Her voice, right near him, sent shivers down his back and he smiled.

Kissing him again she said, "You know we should probably go."

It was now James' turn to kiss her, "We have time," he responded.

"Breakfast."

"Time."

Between what they were saying, they continued to kiss one another. That was until Lily's stomach began to rumble. Pulling back, James laughed, while Lily looked down at herself.

"Bad timing," she grumbled to herself.

"Weren't you the one who just said we should go?"

"Yes. But that's not the point!"

"Come on. Up you get," James said, encouraging her to stand.

When they stood, they didn't move far from the couch. James grabbed Lily around her waist, and started kissing her again.

He pulled back, their foreheads leaning against each other.

"You do realise, we aren't getting anywhere right now?" Lily said softly.

"Yeah, but so much better this way."

It was at that moment, Lily's stomach rumbled again.

"Okay, okay, let's go get you food."

Letting Lily go get into her uniform instead of the casual clothes she had thrown on earlier.

"Alright let's go," James said as Lily walked out of her room.

* * *

**Hello again my lovelies.**

**I apologise, for taking (once more) longer than usual to update. I had a complete mind blank for the chapter. Got halfway through, got stuck, wrote the end, then had to come back. Probably not the best plan, but hey, it works. **

**I would just like to give you all a heads up. The story has a long way to go, and I have got up to chapter 19 planned out. Once I publish chapter 19, I will be going on a Haitus. PLEASE DON'T HATE ME! I will have absolutely no time to write due to studies and exams. But after November is over. I ****_WILL _****be continuing. But there is still plenty of time until then. So please don't fret.**

**Also, thank you to everyone who has reviewed! I love you all so much!**

**Enjoy this chapter, and let me know what you think :)**

**-Black lightning runes xx**


	16. Chapter 16

_Chapter 16:_

It didn't matter how long they had been going out, people still stared at James and Lily. The girls who had always wanted James glared at Lily, and she was getting sick off it. It was uncountable how many times she complained that they "needed to mind their own business and leave her alone."

They had been together for nearly a month now, and Lily knew that it was one of the best decisions she had made.

She laughed to herself thinking about what things used to be like between them, how her friends kept telling her that James wasn't that bad, or how she used to complain all the time to her parents when she went home.

Thinking of her parents made Lily remember the letter she received from her parents after telling them about James. Both her parents wrote in the letter. Her mum was ecstatic and said she knew it was coming. Her dad however, was more protective wanting to know absolutely everything.

She also found out that Petunia's wedding would be during Lily's Christmas break, so that she could be there as she was a bridesmaid. Her mum also asked if she wanted to invite James to the wedding, as it was a requirement that sometime on the break, they had to meet James.

Although Lily had received the letter shortly after she had sent hers, she still hadn't asked James about the wedding. She wanted to, but she never knew when to bring it up. He had heard so much about Petunia that she thought maybe he just wouldn't want to go. Though, she realised she would have to ask him soon. Just to give him some time to think about it.

She was sitting alone in the common room, reading about vampires and other dark creatures in her Defence Against the Dark Arts text. They had an essay they had to do, so she was reading to find some information she could use.

James was at Quidditch practice and was bound to return soon. As she turned over the next page, she heard a soft click of the door. She continued reading, guessing James was going to try and scare her, since he hadn't called out as usual.

She heard movement right behind her and said quickly, "Don't even think about it."

"How did you know?" he exclaimed.

"You really aren't as quiet as you think," Lily said smiling, "and don't even think about coming near me."

"You just had Quidditch practice, meaning you're going to be all sweaty, and I know you prefer the shower in here," she said still not looking up from her book.

Sensing he was about to grab her she shot up quickly, moving away from him. When she turned towards him, he was standing behind the couch with the biggest smirk on his face.

Dressed in a well fitted top, Lily couldn't help but state at him. The contours of his muscles could be seen.

He took a step again, moving closer to Lily who took a step away.

"Aw, come on Lily! Just a hug."

"No!"

He started towards her, and she quickly moved away. It wasn't long before it became a chase around their common room. Unfortunately for Lily, she wasn't quick enough to stay away from him. Before long she was wrapped in his arms.

"Ew!' She squealed as his sweaty arms wrapped around her,

"You love it Evans," James teased.

"No I don't. Now I'm going to have to take a shower!"

"Hey what a coincidence," James said, "so do I, We should go take a shower."

"In your dreams Potter."

"They already are, Lily-Flower," another voice said from behind them.

Spinning quickly, Lily spotted Sirius, leaning against the wall of the hallway casually. His arms folded across his body, he was smirking at his friends.

"Shut up Padfoot," James told him.

"Um how long have you been standing there?" Lily asked still engulfed in James' arms.

"Oh I don't know. Long enough," he shrugged nonchalantly still smirking at them, "You two really need to get a room."

Lily felt her face go bright red at Sirius' comment as she felt James let go of her. Not a second later, Lily watched as a book went flying across the room smacking Sirius in the face.

"Oi! What was that for?" Sirius exclaimed.

"You know exactly what!"

"Nope, don't think I do."

"Um so what are you doing here?" Lily asked.

"What? I'm not allowed spend time with you?" Sirius feigned being hurt.

"Well yeah, but there is this thing called knocking."

"I did knock!"

"But did we let you in?" Lily glared at him.

"Sure, I'm pretty sure you did."

Rolling her eyes, it was Lily's turn to throw something at Sirius.

"Hey! Hey! Hey! Prongs, control your girlfriend. She's violent!"

"I swear to god, Black!" Lily exclaimed holding up another book to throw at Sirius.

Holding up his hands in defence, Sirius began backing up, "So I'm just going to go now. I'll, uhh, see you two later."

Quickly Sirius turned and ran out.

Laughing, James and Lily faced one another.

"So where were we again?"

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

Walking up, Lily felt drained. It was pitch black outside still and her arm, which wasn't under her blanket, was freezing cold. Turning over, she looked at the time. Four o'clock in the morning.

Groaning, she rolled back over. There was absolutely no reason for her to be awake at that time and she hated her body for it.

She didn't remember what she dreamed, but it was something that kept her tossing and turning during the night. She could barely move as her sheets were wrapped fully around her.

Wriggling and attempting to pull her sheets from beneath her, she removed herself from being completely tangled.

She rolled to her side, pulling the covers over her to stay warm. Closing her eyes she hoped she could get a couple more hours sleep before she would have to get up for the day.

Time seemed to go slowly, and Lily tossing and turning wasn't able to get back to sleep. Usually when her alarm went off, at quarter to seven, she would wake up and be able to get up. Instead she turned her alarm off and rolled back over, throwing her blankets over her head.

It felt like only seconds later, she heard the light tapping on her door.

"Lils? Lily? Are you in there?"

Instead of replying to him, Lily remained wrapped in her blankets not wanting to move.

She knew she should get up soon, and she would eventually, but after such a terrible night of sleeping she didn't feel up to it.

The next thing she knew was James was sitting on her bed, shaking her awake.

"Come on Lily. Time to get up," he told her softly.

"No," she groaned.

"Are you okay? Sick? Do I need to take you to the hospital wing?"

"No. Sleep," she said grumpily, "can I just sleep all day?"

"No you can't. Come on let's get you up," he said as he pulled her covers away from her head, "since when does Lily Evans want to skip classes? I'm a bad influence on you!"

"Shut it, Potter," she said sitting up slowly, "see I'm up okay?"

Giving him a quick kiss on the lips she said, "Now get out. I'll be out in a moment."

As soon as James closed the door being him, Lily grudgingly got herself out of bed and ready for the day.

"I need coffee," she mumbled to herself before leaving her room.

Leaving her room, the smell of coffee hit her.

"Wow I really need coffee badly," she said under her breath.

"What was that?" James asked.

"I really need coffee. I said that right before walking out of my room and now I'm smelling it."

Grinning, James said, "Your wish is my command," as he indicated a cup of coffee on the little table in front of the couch where he was sitting."

"COFFEE!" Lily exclaimed before running over to have some, "Ow! Hot, hot, hot!"

"oh shut up!" she said to James who was laughing at her, "how?"

"My secret," he winked at her, "let's go down to breakfast. I'm starved."

"But coffee..."

"Bring it with you," he told her, standing and kissing her cheek.

Together they walked down to the hall, Lily gratefully holding her cup of well needed coffee.

"What's wrong this morning?" James asked her.

"I just slept really badly last night. Weird dreams and such."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"I don't really remember them, just that they were weird. I must have turned a fair bit during the night. I could barely move when I woke up at the ridiculous hour this morning."

"Hmm okay," James said, unsure how to respond, "perhaps if we get some food into you it will help a bit."

"If it include chocolate then I am okay with this."

"Yes we'll get you something chocolate."

"Yay!" Lily said as she moved a little bit faster to get to the Great Hall faster.

Shaking his head, James followed after her. When they arrived to the hall, they joined their friends who were already sitting at the table

"Where were you two?" Sirius asked suggestively, winking at James.

"Shut up Padfoot," Remus said slapping Sirius on the back of the head, while Peter giggled.

"Oi! No hitting! It takes effort to look like this!" Sirius complained.

"Trust me. We know," Remus responded bluntly, "there are others who want to use the bathroom in the mornings."

"Hush you. James nor Lily responded to my question."

"I slept in," Lily said sleepily, as she yawned while putting some food on her plate and pouring some pumpkin juice.

The girls looked across at Lily curiously, knowing that it was strange for Lily to sleep in.

"Is everything okay?" Marlene asked, worried about her friend.

"Yeah don't worry. I'm fine."

Both Marlene and Alice looked unconvinced, but knew not to push their friend. They continued looking at Lily, who looked down and continued eating.

James also watched Lily. His arm stayed around her to comfort her.

Once she finished eating, they all left for their first class.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

Potions class was last. Lily loved potions, which meant it didn't matter to her that it was the last class of the day she would always be attentive in the class. No matter how tired she was. It was probably why Professor Slughorn liked her so much. The fact that she was actually pretty decent at the subject, probably the best in the class – other than Sev – helped with that too. They used to work together in classes as it was easy for the both of them. That was until fifth year.

It was weird for a while after that, sure Lily had her girl friends and of course, James chasing after her. But it didn't feel right. Her friend, who introduced magic to her, just left her calling her something she never thought she would hear from his mouth.

It didn't matter so much anymore. She knew they chose their separate paths, there wasn't much that could change that but at least she had James now.

Thinking about James, she looked across at him, sitting next to Sirius in the row in front and to the side. He was actually paying attention to Slughorn, looking up at him and taking notes, but as if feeling Lily's gaze on him, he looked behind and smiled at her. She smiled back, but only softly. She was still tired.

Noticing that something was wrong, he mouthed, "Are you okay?"

"Yes," she mouthed back and nodded, trying to smile a bit better to convince him that she was okay. It didn't seem to work.

Class seemed to drag on forever. They were discussing the uses of Polyjuice Potion and the effects it could have but also its benefits and uses by aurors.

That was probably why James and Sirius were paying so much attention in the class. They both wanted to becomes aurors, following in James' parent's footsteps.

When the lesson eventually finished, Lily let out a sigh of relief. She just wanted to go back to her bed and sleep more.

James jumped up immediately and came to see if she was okay.

"I can cancel practice if you need," he was saying to her.

"No! No. No. No," Sirius said, "there is no way you are cancelling this practice! We barely ever get time one the pitch. Say your goodbyes and let's go."

Allowing James to give Lily a quick kiss, Sirius grabbed James' arm and dragged him away.

Lily still needed to pack up all her belongings, and although the others offered to wait with her, she sent them on her way saying that she was heading straight back to her room to sleep. They grudgingly left her.

As she slowly packed up, she realised there was one other person left behind. Sev.

Instead of leaving he moved over to talk to her.

"Lily," he began.

"What do you want?"

"So it's you and Potter is it?"

"Yes," she told him curtly, "what's it matter to you?"

"You used to hate him."

"And I used to like you."

"You don't anymore?"

"Well why should I? You've change. You know what you said."

"I don't know how many times I can apologise for – "

"No. Don't even bother. Save your breath. I don't think I can forgive you for that."

"What, and you can forgive Potter? For everything that he did to you? To me?"

"Yes. Because he wasn't hateful. He has _never _discriminated me because I'm a muggleborn. Oh wait no, I'm a mudblood right?"

"No. Please, don't say that. Don't call yourself that."

"Well I am one, aren't I? You said so yourself. But what did you want, there has to be a reason you wanted to talk to me."

"Break up with him."

"Seriously. That's what you wanted to tell me? Just leave me alone."

"No you don't understand. Please just break up with him. You don't hear what the others are saying about you two."

Lily knew exactly who he meant. His _friends, _the death eaters.

"They are planning things," he continued, "terrible things to hurt the two of you. To hurt you. The mudblood and the blood traitor, that's what they say."

"Why would you even care? You hate James."

"Yes. But I care about you."

"Whatever, just leave me alone," Lily told him before she grabbed all her stuff and walked out.

From behind her she heard Sev call out, "Be careful, please. They _will_ hurt you."

_Just like you hurt me," _she thought to herself, but didn't have the heart to say it aloud. Instead she continued walking, not turning once.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

"Come on guys, let's do this!" James said as he one by one pushed his team out of the change rooms.

One by one the team left the change room, followed lastly by James.

"You know, oh fearless captain, it's about time we had another practice," Christine said to him, "how's being with Lily going?"

"Hey! It's been impossible to book the pitch for us! It's as if every house bar us can get it. And great thank you very much," he responded.

"Yeah, it's impossible to break them a part!" Sirius called from a head.

"Shut it Padfoot! Okay I want 5 laps of the pitch! Go, go, go!" James instructed his team

Following his team, he weaved in and out between then for the five laps correcting technique but also providing a distraction of sorts so they to could practice their weaving and dodging.

After their five laps James set himself, Sirius, Christine, Chad, Lucus and Rhys working on skills and techniques, getting himself and the other two chasers to practice shots while Rhys defended while at the same time the beaters, Sirius and Lucus were practicing their aim of hitting the blisters towards charmed targets.

Mary, as seeker was told to practice her dives.

Part way through practice, Sirius flew over to James, "So what's wrong with our Lily-flower today? She seems... Out of it..."

"She didn't sleep well. It took ages for me to get her up, which is unusual for her."

"Bad dreams?"

"Apparently, but she said she doesn't remember them. Literally took me forever to get her out of bed. At least the sight of coffee managed to wake her up a bit. Honestly, I'm a bit worried."

"Hey, you don't need to worry. It was only last night this has happened to her. It'll be fine."

"Yeah, true," James said unconvincingly, "right. Come on. Let's get back to work."

It wasn't until it became dark and James knew it was dinnertime that he finally called the practice quits. The team all flew down together.

"Good work guys! The cup should be ours this year!" James said, clearly excited about idea of winning the cup.

Tired and sweaty from the practice, the team headed into the change rooms to take a shower before all rushing to get some dinner.

James, when he walked into the Great Hall, looked down the Gryffindor table for Lily However, he only spotted Marlene, sitting with Peter and Remus and Alice and Frank in their own little world. Just like he always knew Lily and he would be perfect together, Alice and Frank were composite pieces of a puzzle.

Since he didn't spot Lily, he figured she had gone back to their dorm already. Quickly stuffing food into his mouth, he ate his dinner and went up to the dorm, only to find that she wasn't in their common room and her bedroom door was closed. He wanted to go in and see if she was awake, but after the night she had had the night before it was better that he let her sleep.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

Severus' words rang through Lily's mind.

"_The mudblood and the blood traitor… They are planning things terrible things to hurt the two of you. To hurt you."  
_  
She knew she shouldn't listen to him. It was probably just some ploy so that the couple would break up. No, she knew it was just a ploy. How could it not be. Sev, no Snape, hates James, just as she used to. Of course he would hate the fact they were together. It didn't matter if she was happy or not.

But even being happy, and believing it was some ploy. What he said scared her. Not that she should be scared of students, but she knew who they were. They were death eaters. Everyone knew they were and she was surprised Dumbledore would even let them in the school.

She didn't want to have to deal with them.

Lying in bed, her eyes began to close. Looking out her window, the moon was high in the dark but clear sky. The last thing to cross her mid before she fell asleep, _the full moon is soon_.

* * *

**Hi everyone!**

**Here it is finally! I'm so sorry that it's taken me so long, but I hope you have enjoyed the chapter.**

**Black-lightning-runes xx**


	17. Chapter 17

_Chapter 17_

"How does she not know?" Sirius asked incredulously, "You've been prefects since fifth year! Plus you were the only marauder that she liked until last year!"

He, Remus, James and Peter were sitting in the boy's dormitory, discussing the approaching full moon. Remus was already beginning to look pale, dreading his transformation.

"You know, he has a point," Peter said, "This is Lily Evans we're talking about. She must have figured it out."

"Plus she was friends with Snivellus," Sirius added, "he must have said something."

"Well she didn't seem to know last month and she was okay with me missing out on patrol," James told them.

"But she's not dumb, she'll figure it out and she'll hate me!" Remus hung his head looking at his bed covers, avoiding eye contact with the others.

"Like Peter said, this is Lily we are talking about! She won't hate you!" James exclaimed.

"Yes she will. I'm a monster."

"Moony, don't you dare say that!" Sirius, who was close to yelling at Remus, exclaimed.

"You aren't a monster," Peter added.

"Well what are we going to do?" James asked, wanting to move away from arguing whether or not Remus was a monster.

"There's two choices," Sirius said "we could just tell her or just let Prongs say he has another guys out with us. Technically you aren't lying," he quickly added before James could interrupt.

"Moony, Padfoot is right. I can tell her we have a guys night out, but she's going to figure it out. But she won't hate you or be scared of you or anything when she finds out."

"How do you know?" Remus snapped, then withdrew guiltily.

"Because I know Lily, and so do you. She's one of the kindest people we know. And you know that."

"She couldn't hate anyone," Sirius added.

"No," Remus said firmly, "we aren't telling her. Please just tell her that we have our usual night out. It's so much better than the truth."

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

The hallways were silent except for the footsteps that echoed through the corridor. It was dark, and the pair walked guided by the few torches, that were lined along the walls, and by the moonlight which shown through the large windows.

They held each other's hands and tonight had luckily found no one else to send back to their dorms, not even Sirius. It meant they could probably head back to their common room soon.

"Hey Lily?" James said breaking the silence.

"Yeah?"

"Are you okay if I were to hang out with the guys tomorrow night? It's our usual guys night only."

"Sure, no problem at all. Is it similar to what you guys did last month?" she asked.

"Yeah pretty much," he told her, "you'll find it's a once a month occurrence. The guys are particularly demanding it now I have you."

Lily laughed at that.

"Of course they are," she said, "well I'm just better than them."

"That you are," he said as his voice changed, becoming rough.

He stopped pulling her around to face him. Their bodies touching, he brought his lips down to hers. She welcomed the kiss, but didn't let it deepen. Instead she moved her hands to his chest and pulled away.

"Later," she told him.

"Later?"

"Later."

With that, she gave him a quick kiss on the lips before turning and walking away.

James stood, stunned for a brief second, before he followed after her.

They continued to walk around for about half an hour more before, in James' opinion, they _finally_ made it back to their dorm. They walked through the portrait hole and closed the door behind them. Hearing the door click, Lily took James' hand and led him down the hallway.

They only made it a couple of steps before James stopped and pulled her back so that their bodies were right up against one another. Their hearts beat fast and the heat radiated off one another.

"Is it later yet?" James asked, his voice husky obvious he was trying to keep it in control.

"Oh I believe it is," she responded as she took both his hands within hers and began to walk backwards. Grinning up at him, she led him towards the couch.

It wasn't before long they made it to the couch, and Lily fell back, pulling James with her.

His lips found hers almost immediately, and together, they slid down onto the couch completely to make themselves more comfortable. Their lips moved in sync with one another while their hands roamed the other.

Lily had her hands beneath James' shirt, on his defined body. His muscles felt amazing, for she could feel the curve of each of his abs. At the same time, James' hand was sliding down her leg lifting it up so it would around him as he moved closer to her. She gasped, but did not complain. Her gasp allowed James' tongue to slide into her mouth, deepening the kiss. His tongue massaged hers and she let out a moan of pleasure. Her arms moved up, wrapping them around his neck, pulling him closer. It didn't matter how close they already were, it wouldn't be enough. She needed him.

James' hands tugged at the bottom of Lily's shirt and she lifted her arms up allowing him to lift it over her head. In no time at all, the shirt was unceremoniously thrown to the floor next to the couch. Lily now lay beneath James in her skirt and a black lace bra. James moved away to look at her properly.

"God, Evans. You're going to be the death of me," he groaned, before moving back towards her. His lips moved down her body and his hand cupping her breast, massaging it. Lily's hands were in his messy hair.

He was at her stomach, his kisses leaving a trail of tingling sensations from every touch, when Lily muttered, "we should stop."

"Mmhmm," James agreed before his lips were back on hers.

She kissed him back, unable to stop her self from the immediate response. However, she was able to stop and pull away before letting it go too far.

"James," she said, her voice soft but clear.

"Mmm?" He looked at her directly in the eyes and knew she was right, knew they needed to stop before they went too far.

"Right stop," he continued to say as he burrowed his head into her neck, "God you're beautiful."

He then squeezed himself down the side of the couch, lying on his side. Lily before turning to face James reached across and retrieved her wand. Conjuring a blanket, she placed it on both of them and made her self comfortable. When Lily was no longer wriggling to find a comfortable position, James wrapped his arm protectively around her. She was his, and he was hers. Nothing was going to change that. Lying where they were, the two fell asleep in front of the dying embers of the fire.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

**TWO DEAD AND THREE MISSING**

_Auror's were called in to investigate the Douglas case. Mitchell Douglas, Ministry worker, age 40, was found dead in his living room along side the oldest of his three children, Marie, age 15. His wife Therese and other two children, Max and Louise, are currently missing. From what the auror's have revealed, more than one unforgiveable curse was used on both Mirchell and Marie…_

Lily placed the Daily Prophet down on the table, unable to read any more of the article. It was the third similar report of that week, and it was clear that there were many more to come.

She tried not to think about it, but it was hard not to. A war was brewing and she knew she had to protect herself and those she loved. It was times like these she wished she could simply contact her family to make sure they were all okay. It was hard to imagine receiving a letter one day with dreadful news.

Shaking her head, Lily attempted to remove any of those sorts of thoughts from her mind but it was hard. It was at that moment two people sat down either side of her.

"Perfect timing," Lily said, giving her companions a smile each.

"And why is that?" Marlene asked, but was able to answer her question by simply looking at the paper in front of Lily.

"Oh," she said.

"Hunnie, no. No thinking about that stuff today," Alice said as she wrapped her arm around Lily's shoulders.

"Yeah," Marlene agreed, "this is our girl's day!" She exclaimed as she high fived Alice.

Lily couldn't help the smile that came to her face, "girl's day?" she asked curiously.

"Yup. We overheard James tell the others that guy's night is set, so we told him that we're kidnapping you for the day. And technically I'm also kidnapping Alice too."

"Wait, how are you kidnapping me too?" Alice asked incredulous, "I came up with this idea with you!"

"Well technically you need to be kidnapped away from Frank."

"No I don't!"

"Yes you do!"

"No!"

"Yes! You're as bad as Lily and James!"

Lily who had been shaking her head at her friends cut in, "Hey! What does that mean?"

"Nothing, nothing," Marlene said grinning.

Sighing, Lily asked instead, "so what's the plan today?"

"Well we hadn't really decided," Alice said.

"Just as long as no boyfriends join," Marlene added looking pointedly at both of her friends.

"Okay, okay we get the point," Alice said.

"Well its cold outside so I would prefer to stay inside," Lily said.

"Well you're no fun. But yes I agree," Marlene said.

"Take over the heads common room?" Alice suggested, "that way we have the fire, exploding snap and unfortunately we have homework to do."

"Why did you have to say that!" Marlene complained.

"Well it's true."

"Doesn't mean you need to remind me."

"Well too late."

"Okay, okay. Alice is right Marlene. But I like the idea. We can do our homework and talk. All we have to do is ensure that none of the guys come in," Lily interrupted.

"Oh that's easy," Alice said quickly.

Both Lily and Marlene looked at her, confused.

Alice nodded her head down the table. Walking into the Great Hall at exactly at that time was the marauders and Frank. The three girls watched as they all walked towards them.

They sat down opposite the girls, immediately piling food on their plates.

"Do you guys ever not eat?" Lily asked.

"Nope," Sirius replied right before stuffing food into his mouth.

"Well on that note, we're off," Marlene told the boys before dragging Lily to stand up with her, "We're taking over the heads' dorm so you aren't allowed in. Girls only today."

"Well you aren't fun," Sirius complained.

"Sure, sure," she responded dismissively.

The three girls were now standing and had turned to leave.

"Lily, wait," James said from behind them. He too now was standing.

She walked back to stand opposite James. At the same time they leant across, allowing their lips to meet.

"Have a good day," he murmured against her lips.

"I will," she responded quickly, kissing him one more time before turning to leave.

Marlene linked her arms between both Alice's and Lily's, dragging them towards the entrance.

"And this is why we need a girls day," Marlene grumbled.

Before leaving the hall, Lily looked over her shoulder. James was staring down after them. She winked and he grinned.

Unbeknown by the two, someone else caught the gesture between the two and wasn't happy at all.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

The first stop was the Gryffindor tower to allow Marlene and Alice to grab some books and food from the stashes in their dorm. Then it was onto Lily's dorm where they immediately threw their stuff to the floor and made themselves comfortable in front of the blazing fire.

"So Evans," Marlene began.

Lily laughed, she knew exactly where Marlene was going.

"Yeah McKinnon?"

"Some juicy details if you will. Have you shagged him yet?" Marlene asked as she winked.

"Marlene! No!"

"Well you're no fun. Details then missy!"

"Just some really good snogging sessions. You know I'm not just going to shag him!"

"Yeah, well I still had to ask!"

As the two went back and forth between one another, Alice watched Lily closely.

"You really like him don't you?" she interrupted.

"Yeah. I really do. I mean he was a prat and arrogant, but I guess you guys were right and I was just trying to convince myself that's all he was."

"Wait what?" Marlene asked, "Are you saying that you did see the good that we told you was always there?"

"Well, uh yeah. Of course I could. Everyone could. He's loyal and really intelligent. I spent most of the time convincing he was only that arrogant toe rag. I mean in a way he was, always asking me out and hexing people in halls. But you guys were always right. There was another side which I kept ignoring."

Lily said all this quickly. It was something she had thought about a lot since she had been going out with James and it was a relief to get it off her chest.

"Why are you so stubborn?" Marlene asked as a rhetorical question slamming her head against the couch.

While at the same time Alice asked, "Snape was a reason, wasn't he?"

Shrugging Lily responded, "Well a bit, yeah. But he was my friend. You can't blame me for that. Wait, you can but not the point right now."

"We don't have to talk about him, Alice said softly.

"No it's okay. I actually havent told any of you guys, not even James."

"Haven't told us what?"

"After our last potions class, when I told you guys to leave. He, uh, came up and spoke to me."

"And said what," Marlene's eyes narrowed.

"Uh, well he wanted me to break up with James."

"Are you serious?" Marlene asked disbelief clear in her voice.

"Yeah. Well apparently I'm dirtying the Potter line just by dating him."

"Eurgh stupid purebloods!"

"Marlene, I'm a pureblood," Alice pointed out, "and so is James and Sirius."

"You know what I mean! Just them, the Slytherins. Those who think they're better than us."

"What'd you say to him," Alice asked.

"I told him to leave me alone and then I left."

"Good. He has no right to talk to you," Marlene claimed, "not after fifth year and punching you last year."

"Yeah, uh, new topic..." Lily trailed off feeling uncomfortable. She didn't mind talking about James, but she couldn't handle Snape. It was still hard to think about the person who used to be her best friend.

The conversation moved on. Alice was the next to be interrogated by Marlene about how every with Frank was going, followed by Alice and Lily ganging up to question Marlene about her and Sirius.

"There's nothing happening. He's like my brother," she would claim to the disbelieving Alice and Frank.

For the next couple of hours, intense games of exploding snap and gobstones took place and as much as the girls didn't want to, their homework soon followed.

At dinner, the girls were joined by the marauders. James sat down next to Lily and Frank next to Alice. As soon as James had sat down next to Lily he wrapped his arms around her waist. She welcomed the embrace and leant into him.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

Lily walked alone. It was odd for her to be doing the late rounds alone. She could have, and probably should have asked Alice to join her, but she figured nothing bad could actually happen. The worst she would have to deal with was a few people sneaking out to either meet with one another or to go get food.

Her mind was reeling with the news of the dead and missing people. The war was brewing and everyone knew it. She was sure that not everything was being put in the papers, but only enough to let everyone know what was happening. She had once been told that no one would care that she was a muggleborn. To the most part this was true, all her friends accepted her, but there were those who did. It was mainly the 'pure blood' Slytherins who would put her down. But the bullying inside Hogwarts was nothing compared to what was happening outside the walls. The half bloods, muggleborns and even the 'blood traitors' had to be on alert, because it was them in danger.

As she continued to walk around, she hadn't seen anyone. She walked down the corridors, making sure no one was out or in any of the classrooms.

It wasn't until she reached a corner in an area that was no where near any of the teacher's offices or where anyone would usually be that she heard foot steps.

"Hello? Who's there?" she called out.

Laughter ensured from both in front and behind her and it was not a moment later that figures began to emerge from the shadows.

"Well, well, well, look what we have here," a husky voice said from within the shadows.

As they stepped closer, Lily could make out who they were. Standing in a semicircle around her was Bellatrix Black, Lochlan Avery, Chris Mulciber, Regulus Black, Evan Rossier, Emma Nott and Severus Snape.

It was Avery who had spoken, him standing a step in front of the others.

"Shouldn't itty bitty mudbloods know not to walk alone at night," Bellatrix added from behind, taking a step forward.

Without hesitation, Lily retrieved her wand from her pocket and held it up. She was in a bad spot, stuck in a corner but at least none of them were behind her.

"You aren't allowed to be out of bed, you know," Lily told them, trying to keep her voice stable, but knowing her voice quaked a small amount.

"Who's going to stop us? You?" Avery sneered.

"We just want to talk you know," a girlish voice added, it was Emma.

"Talk about what?" Lily's eyes narrowed. She looked across to Severus. She didn't know what to expect, it wasn't like he had ever stood up for her in front of his 'friends' before. When she looked at him, she received nothing in return. He wouldn't even look at her, his eyes were locked on the ground.

"Your blood of course. The Potter's may be blood traitors, but you being with him, you're dirtying a good pure bloodline."

"And because that's your concern? Who I'm going out with? I'm pretty sure that's none of your business."

"Oh but it is," Bellatrix responded, "you see, all purebloods are connected, and we can't afford for any line to be dirtied."

"You guys are sick. You know that right?" Lily taunted.

"Say that again, mudblood," Bellatrix said raising her wand moving even closer to Lily.

Lily in response lifted her wand even higher, now pointing it directly at Bellatrix. The others all raised their wands in response pointing them directly at Lily.

"Calm down, Bella," Snape's voiced drawled from behind.

"Stop protecting the mudblood," Bellatrix snapped.

"This is ridiculous," Avery said, "we came here for one reason and one reason only."

Turning to Lily he continued, "Break up with Potter if you want to know what's good for you and good for him."

"Is that supposed to be a threat?"

"Yeah it is."

Lily went to take a step and out of the corner of her eye she saw movement of a wand being raised, quickly casting protego a shield protected her from the spell that had been cast.

"What the he-" Lily started to exclaim. But before she could finish her sentence, another voice sounded from one of the Slytherins.

_"Crucio."_

She had no time to react, and instead fell to the floor writhing in pain. It was too much for her to handle. The pain was so intense, she didn't know where she was anymore or those who were around her, all she cared about was wanting the piercing pain covering her skin to stop. She held her lips close together, refusing to give them the victory of screaming aloud. But it was too much, and the scream escaped.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

"Is it time yet?" Peter asked eagerly.

"Nearly," James said back, "he's probably being led out there at the moment. We'll get going in a few minutes."

"Great!"

Sirius pulled out a piece of parchment tapping his wand against it saying, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." As he said those words, ink appeared magically, spreading away from the point which his wand touched.

"Okay, well looks like he's already there. Madame Pomfrey is back in the hospital wing."

"Let's go then!" Peter said enthusiastically.

"Okay, okay, we're going," James said as he lifted up a cloak from his bed.

The moment those words came out of James' mouth, Peter transformed into a rat. Sirius, picked up Peter and together with James walked out and down the stairs into the common room. Right before they exited, James threw his invisibility cloak over himself and Sirius, and with that they walked out.

As per usual, they met no trouble as they walked to the Whomping Willow. Before getting too close to the tree, Sirius placed Peter on the group, who scampered until he his the knot on the trunk. With that the moving branches, froze in place allowing the two teenagers to move into the passageway beneath the tree. As soon as they entered, the two also transformed into animals. James into a stag and Sirius into a black dog. The three then made their way further into the tunnels. Through the tunnels, crying noises echoed around them. Remus' transformation had already begun and he was already partially a wolf.

They hurried down, knowing that when the others were there, they could help control him. Once he was fully a wolf, James and Sirius would guide Remus to the forbidden forest where they could run around freely. Sometimes it was hard to keep the werewolf in line but together, as larger animals, James and Sirius could do what was needed.

The night was no different to any other full moon. When Remus' transformation was complete, the others led him away from the Shrieking Shack. Reaching the forest was Sirius' favourite part about the full moons. He loved being able to run free. Sure, there would be the injuries every so often, but to him they were worth it. It was worth the risk to help his friend. Yet at the same time, his animagus, the dog, really did suit him and his playful manner.

At one stage during the night, Remus became extremely irritated. He clawed at himself and the ground. When either James or Sirius had moved closed to try and stop him, he would bare his teeth warning them to stay away. They weren't sure what to do. They knew if they moved closer a fight would break out, but they couldn't allow their friend to hurt himself like that.

It was James who took the risk to move forward to stop Remus, as he was the bigger animal he could do more to help. He dipped his head down nudging the werewolf with his antlers. The wolf growled at the stag, angry to be interrupted. He slashed out, his claws scratching against the side of the stag. Blood began seeping out of the wound, but luckily for James it wasn't bleeding too much.

The black dog barking loudly, moved towards the wolf to protect the stag. Together the stag and the dog nudged and worked on either side of the wolf to control him and get him to calm down. It took a bit, but they managed to.

The hours ticked by, and it was getting close to the time to move the wolf back to the shrieking shack. The two larger animals, with the rat on the wolf led him back down the tunnel. The transformation back to being Remus started and the others left him to it. As soon as they were human again, James grabbed his side.

"Fuck!" he exclaimed as he looked down at the scratches on his side. It was still bleeding, but only a small amount. The rest of the blood had dried up around the wound. He tried to move but every step he took, pain shook through his body. Noticing the pain in their friend, both Sirius and Peter moved to their friend's side helping him to walk. Covered by the invisibility cloak, they slowly made their way back to the boy's dormitory in the Gryffindor tower.

When they got there, the two carefully placed James on his old bed, making sure the wound wasn't touching any surface.

The pain was clear on James' face but it was something he had, unfortunately, been through before.

Peter went straight to the Sirius' trunk where he found the Dittany. He hurried back, and applied some to the scratches. The pain subsided, and it wasn't before long the other two collapsed on their own beds and drifted to sleep.

* * *

~~~/~~~

* * *

All Lily could hear was the cackling sound of Bellatrix and a deep husky laugh of males.

"Heed our warning, Evans," a voice told her before all that was left to hear was the echo of footsteps walking away from her.

On the floor, curled in a ball, Lily didn't want to move. She was in too much pain for that. When she had fallen to the floor, she had landed on her wrist. Pain shot through both her wrist and arm every time she tried to move it.

While she remained on the ground, Lily wondered what would be better. Waking up Madame Pomfrey or going in the morning and just say she hurt her wrist while falling over. The second idea seemed better. That way she wouldn't break down or have to explain anything else to anyone. She knew it wouldn't be wise to tell anyone what had happened. If this was just a warning, who knew what they would do if anyone found out the truth.

Using her good hand, she managed to push herself up off the ground. It took a lot of effort and she had already been weak. Spotting her ward a distance away, she carefully retrieved it.

Looking at her wrist and the wand in her hand, Lily deliberated. Perhaps she could heal it by herself. But she didn't want to take the chance of doing something wrong. She had never performed the magic on herself before.

Using the wall to remain standing, Lily slowly made her way back to her room. Passing through portrait of the owl, she went straight to her room and landed on her bed. Only removing her shoes before climbing underneath her blankets.

Putting her wrist in a position that she wouldn't hurt it, Lily tried to sleep. But sleep never came. At least not for a long time. She wanted to toss and turn to make herself more comfortable, but it was impossible without hurting her wrist.

When she eventually fell asleep, she dreamed of being trapped in a corner, surrounded by masked people. She screamed aloud and her eyes shot open.

_It's just a dream_, she thought to herself.

_No it wasn't. It happened, the threat is real_, a tiny voice said back.

Bellatrix's and Avery's words echoed through her min.

"_You're dirtying a good pure bloodline… Heed our warning, Evans_."

She would have said that it was just an empty threat. But she knew it wasn't. They had already proved that... proved they would use the unforgivable's to get what they wanted.

Lily didn't want to break up with James, it would hurt her too much to do so. Since they had been together, she was the happiest she had been in a while. She didn't want to, no couldn't tell him what had happened. He would do something to retaliate and she didn't want to think of what they would do back to him.

There was only one thing she could think of for now. She would ignore him, and try and avoid him as much as possible. She knew it was going to be hard. But Lily figured she had no other option.

* * *

**Hello :)**

**Here is my chapter finally! I am so very sorry that it has taken me so long! **

**I hope you all enjoyed it. I don't usually ask, but I would love some opinions, things you like, don't like would likt to see, etc :)**

**Black-lightningrunes xxx**


	18. AN:

**Hello my lovely readers :)**

I unfortunately have my final exams coming up and I have so little time to do anything but study. Because of this I will be going on a haitus until after I finished.

Fear not, I'll be back at the end of November! There is so much more to come and I already have the next few chapters planned out.

Keep reading and I'll be back before you know it! And I swear my updating will be better then :)

-Blacklightning runes xx


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